Kingdom Hearts: Altered Promises
by Undying lover
Summary: What if Sora had taken Riku's hand that one fateful night? Rated T to be on the safe side. Please review! Epilogue is up, and thusly, it is finished.
1. Chapter 1: The Door Has Opened

Summary: Okay, so we all know the story of Kingdom Hearts 1. If you don't, well, that's too bad. Anyways, this is a kind of "what-if" story. What if, when he was reaching for Riku's hand that one fateful night, what if Sora hadn't missed?

Rating: T for Yaoi. Cute yaoi, but yaoi nonetheless. Also, I'm sure violence and profanity will come in somewhere in there. (At first, a little Kairi x Sora, then later Riku x Sora, and maybe other pairings)

Disclaimers: First things first, the obvious: no, I do not own Kingdom Hearts. Otherwise, Axel would 24/7 have Roxas banged up against…while Hayner…well…let's not get into it. Don't wanna creep you all out before I even begin, do I? Ha ha. Secondly,no, sadly, I do not own Apple or the iPod. I own AN iPod, but not the actual product. _Lo siento. _

Oh and, in case you are curious, the whole iPod thing isn't just a random thing I threw in for no apparent reason. I plan on making a lot more references to music in the future. By the way, any bands I mention in here will, no doubt, NOT be owned by me. Yeah. And so, without further ado…

Kingdom Hearts: Altering Promises

Chapter 1: The Door Has Opened

The Destiny Islands practically glowed that day. Nobody could explain why, but the islands, which were much like a Hawaiian Island, glowed prettier than anything any of its inhabitants had ever experienced. The sun beat down on the pearly white sand so the sand glistened when touched gently by the seemingly endless seas waves. The palm trees swayed calmly in a warm breeze, bowing to the powerful yet tender invisible force. The islands, which were usually teeming with life, seemed to have trees and bright green plants growing on every square inch of it.

It was almost as if nature was taking advantage of its last day to flaunt its beauty.

As brilliant as the day was, so much more stunning was the sunset. It was like a masterpiece painting, in which the artist's raw emotions just spilled onto the blank canvas. Red, yellow, orange, blue, pink, purple, white, black, and other colors the citizens of these Islands could not even come up with a name for streaked through the sky, creating a spiral shape that glowed with brilliance.

Unfortunately, only three teenagers were still awake on the islands to experience this thrill. Little did they know, these three would soon become very familiar with places that they did not even know about.

One of the teenagers was sitting on the roof of a wooden hut everyone referred to as the Seaside Shack. He was dressed in such a complex outfit, he wasn't entirely sure how he got it on in the mornings. He dressed in a very strange red zip-up t-shirt his friend had made for him when he was little. On top of that, he wore something else strange, which was a blue, white, and gray hooded sweatshirt that had no sleeves, slightly defeating the purpose of a hooded sweatshirt. Two belts were cris-crossed in between his belly-button and his privates. His legs were covered down to the knees by red shorts, and his feet were covered by ridiculously large yellow shoes. He had brown hair put up in spikes, colored the same color as the Hershey's milk chocolate candy bar. He had ocean blue eyes that engrossed those who glanced into his eyes. He had naturally tan skin. His name was Sora.

There was a girl who was sitting on the edge of a dock not far from Sora. She was just a little younger than Sora. She had short red hair flowing down to the start of her neck. She had blue eyes that were just a tad lighter than Sora's. She wore an off-white tank top that had stripes of dark blue outlining the holes for her head and arms. She wore a light purple mini-skirt. She looked to be the textbook definition of innocent. Her name was Kairi.

The final teen stood near a hole in a large rock wall that led to a hidden room entitled the Secret Place, neither of the other two noticing his presence. He was older than the both of them. He had silver hair that he wore down just past the end of his neck. His skin was less tan than Sora's, but the boy was just ever-so-slightly more buff than Sora. He had always outdone Sora in the category of brute strength. His eyes, deep and aquamarine, were nothing short of gorgeous. He wore a yellow tank top with blue straps across his chest. He simply dressed in jeans for his bottom half, ending at shoes that were slightly smaller and slightly less outlandish looking than Sora's. This boy's name was Riku.

So, the story begins with Sora. Laying on top of the Seaside Shack, which by day served as a diner, making island-famous hamburgers, he closed his eyes and inhaled the serene ocean breeze. He opened his eyes. A speck in the sky glowed a brilliant white. Sora smiled. _Star light, star bright,_ he told himself. Sora had always believed most superstitions to be true. He was self-admittedly a little naïve, but after all, one of them _could_ be true…you never know.

_First star I see tonight_. A perfect example of Sora's superstitious belief system was the legendary paopu fruit. This was a fruit, yellow-orange in color, extremely smooth in texture. It was shaped like a star, each segment of it ending in a soft point. A leaf sprouted from the topmost point. Sharing this extremely rare fruit with someone was about the equivalent of marriage, only there were no expensive dresses, no lengthy ceremonies, and no mothers crying in the background muttering, "my little baby has grown up and found a man!"

_Wish I may, wish I might. _The paopu fruit and, more importantly, the bigger concept of love, had recurrently come to his mind over the course of the past week or so. He had noticed Kairi taking an interest in him, and Riku had been acting kind of funny towards him. Sora couldn't place the emotion Riku had been feeling towards him, but it probably revolved around Kairi. The two had been competing for that girl since Riku was seven, and Sora was six. Now that the girl was officially falling for Sora, Riku was probably feeling some form of negative emotion. Whether it was contempt, jealousy, or some other sentiment, Sora did not know.

_May I have this wish tonight._ The conclusion of this nursery rhyme posed an interesting question for Sora: what DID he want? Did he want a relationship with Kairi? Did he want Riku to re-befriend him?

_I guess…I wish…something happened. Something new, something different. I wish I could go on an adventure that would solve all of my problems for me._

Poor little Sora had never learned the lesson that he ought to be careful what he wishes for.

Meanwhile, on the sandy beach not far from him, Kairi was laying down, finally, for once in her day, at peace with herself. She listened placidly to her iPod. IPods were, despite the Islands being filled to the brim with luddites (thus why one did not see many televisions), a much sought after item. Only a select few people had them, mostly rich kids, but Sora and Kairi, who both came from middle class families, both had one. Kairi listened as she internally monologued to herself.

_Today is the big day,_ she had told herself when she had risen from her peaceful slumber that morning. Kairi turned thirteen today, and she had been thrilled. Her excitement was not just because she was having a birthday, she was now officially a teen, which meant her parents gave her extended rights. These rights entailed that she could now stay out until eleven and not nine, that she could go to parties without a full background check on the host by her parents, and, most importantly, she was now allowed to date guys. For years, she had looked forward to this, the day she can look him in the face and tell him the god-honest truth of how she felt about him.

To tell him, "Sora…I love you." Really, the excitement of it all had been making her sick all day. She waved it off when confronted about it as "just a stomach flu," but everyone knew SOMETHING was up, something far more than a stomach flu. When she had woken up, she had promised herself that she would finally ask him out today, without fail. Unfortunately…she failed. When she approached him about it, she got flustered, and ended up lamely asking for a cookie. Now, she needed to postpone popping the question until tomorrow. Maybe on a better night's sleep, she could do it.

It was then that she decided to open her right eye, and the seemingly-emo state that had overcome her vanished, while she returned to her normal, upbeat self. She smirked as she watched Sora innocently bounding over to where she lay. She closed her eye, and pretended as if she had been sleeping. As the song came to a close, Kairi subtly reached beside her and shut off her iPod. She wanted as few distractions as possible during this. _My God, _she thought, _am I really about to do this? What if he totally rejects me?_

Sora bounded up, taking note of Kairi's relaxed position. He giggled mischievously to himself, and crouched down, putting his hands on her left side. Without warning, he violently shook her back and forth, while shouting at the top of his lungs, "WAKE UP, YOU LAZY BUM!" Kairi groaned in protest, but then her groans morphed into screaming commands. "Ugh…stop…STOP…STOP!!!"

Sora obeyed, but not without one last chuckle at Kairi's misfortune. "Good mor-er…evening, Kai!"

"…Five more minutes…" she grumbled, mimicking her actions every day when she woke up to her mom rocking her aggressively, telling her she was late for school.

Sora laughed loudly. "Kairiiiii!" he whined, and put on the best pouting face he could muster. Opening one eye, she saw this expression, then opened both her eyes, rolled them, and said, "all right, I'm up…what?"

Sora got disconcerted all of a sudden. "Erm…well…something…seems to have been…bugging you lately…" His voice trailed off at Kairi's facial expression, or lack thereof.

"…and?"

"Uhm…mind sharing?"

Kairi sighed. _Sora…little naïve Sora._ "Well, I've been thinking lately…"

"About?"

"You."

"Huh?"

"Sora…I'm happy where I am, but…maybe we could make things between just us a little more special?"

Sora cocked his head to the side. "Eh?" he questioned vaguely. This infuriated Kairi. _How much clearer do I have to be?_

Kairi decided to just come out and explicitly say it. "Do you love me, Sora?"

"Um…well…" he started, his voice cracking in that pubescent way all teenagers know and hate. "You see…uhhhhh…" Sora suddenly found himself trapped between a rock and a hard place. He had never really been attracted to Kairi, not in that way at least. Kairi was like a best friend, but Sora had never considered the two more than that. However, if he were to say "no, I don't love you" right now, that would completely trash their relationship, which was something Sora was not prepared to do. After five seconds (which felt like eight hours) of internal debating, he finally came to a consensus with himself that, though he didn't particularly want to be Kairi's boyfriend, he would rather have that than not have Kairi as a friend at all. So, he drew in a deep breath and spoke rapidly. "YesKairiIloveyouandwillalwaysloveyouandwouldlovetogooutwithyou!" He found it slightly amusing that very little of the breath he had inhaled earlier was gone.

Kairi made a sound that sounded disturbingly like an overly joyous pig, and hugged HER Sora tightly. After about ten seconds of this, she tilted her head back to get a good look at her new lover's eyes. They were a deep blue, not like the ocean, but more of a navy blue. They were very beautiful. They kind of looked like Kairi's, only Sora's were ever-so-slightly-lighter.

And then came the moment that Kairi would look back on and celebrate, but also mourn. Acting on impulse, she leaned in to Sora's face and captured his lips with her own. It started as an innocent enough event, until Kairi took it a step further by widening her mouth, and licking his bottom lip, begging for him to allow her tongue to enter. When he didn't catch on, she bit his bottom lip, with just the right amount of force so as to not hurt him severely, but just enough to get him to open his mouth, even if it was just by that little crack, it was just enough for her to plunge her tongue into this new, unknown abyss. Her fingers traced the outline of his slightly muscular torso, making her new man quiver.

As this passionate battle of tongue waged on, a certain silver-haired teen watched with mixed emotions. Riku watched, getting the usual delight he got from watching any other couple make out, be it at the Destiny High School, where lovers would sneak away from class and "hide" from the world behind the bushes, where, ironically, they were clearly visible to any passersby that cared to look their way, or be it from his stash of pornography (okay, so Riku couldn't exactly claim to be as innocent as Sora or Kairi). However, mixed in with this delight were feelings of jealousy. Whom he was jealous of, he could not place, but the sight of those two making out gave him a feeling that felt like someone had put his stomach on a roller coaster ride, and it wasn't any ordinary kiddie ride, either.

Eventually, he decided he needed to do something, and came up with a solution rather quickly. If his father had taught him one thing in the fifteen years of his life, it was a simple, well-known phrase: _If you can't beat them, join them._ "Hey," he called out to the two, causing them to lose interest in the other's face, and turn to Riku. "I don't remember being invited to this make-out party!" He ran fingers through his hair in an attempt to look smooth, an attempt to impress…someone.

Kairi giggled innocently, which completely contradicted what he had just caught her doing with Sora. Sora, on the other hand, turned an oddly bright shade of red in his cheeks, while his ears glowed a darker, more intense version of that color. "Well," Kairi called out, "you wanna join? Then sit your ass down over here!" Yeah, Kairi was not as guiltless as she came off as.

Riku chuckled coolly, and said "You bet." He jogged over to the two, who appeared to now officially be boyfriend and girlfriend. Sitting down next to the two, he glanced up and grinned, only to be tackled by the young girl of the group. Straddling Riku, Kairi joined their lips, while Sora looked on, kind of jealous and kind of turned on (hey, he wasn't going to lie.)

Twenty seconds later Kairi and Riku lay on each other, panting, while Sora watched them, a grin growing on his face. All three were at least a little red in the face.

Riku glanced over at Sora and smirked mischievously. He leaned in closer to Sora, the smile on his face growing with every passing second. Sora didn't seem to notice until their faces were about four inches apart. When he finally noticed, he let out a very small squeaky sound, and his face took on a hue that was similar to that of a tomato. "Our turn," Riku whispered in a husky voice. Without stalling any longer, Riku's hand grabbed the back of Sora's head, and pulled him on top of Riku, catching Sora's lips with his own. Plunging further into the kiss, Riku imitated Kairi's actions with Sora, and licked his bottom lip. This time, though, Sora had gotten used to the concept of a tongue in his mouth, and, in fear of being bitten again, quickly opened his mouth to allow Riku to explore the newly found space. Riku spent little time on this, however, and decided to teach the brunette a thing or two about necking. Moving slowly down the boys face, he found the sensitive spot on Sora's neck, and fiercely kissed it. Sora elicited a small moan of pleasure in reaction.

Kairi sat for a second, shocked that her boys would do something like this. But, as the seconds ticked by, she slowly let the Yaoi fangirl inside get the best of her, as she burst into a fit of giggling childishly, and holding her knees to her chest while watching all of this take place.

Two minutes later, all three were lying on the sandy beach, staring at the slowly-darkening sky. The sunsets on the Islands were Sora's favorite part of living there. The sky slowly, around ten PM during the summer, drifted away from its normally cloudless blue to a rainbow of colors. The sky was most brilliant when it was streaked with all of its brilliant colors- blue, red, purple, black, and orange, giving off a dark, fiery tint that looked something like the color red-orange.

"Do you think we'll be together like this forever?" Kairi asked, breaking the silence that had been standing for a while now. Both Sora and Riku gave her quizzical looks, wondering where the question had come from. "Whaat?" she said in a slightly annoyed tone

"Well…" Riku began, "something tells me that, sooner or later, one or all of us will end up being isolated from the others, but as long as we never forget about each other, will we really ever have left each other?"

Sora giggled. "That's deep…where'd you get it? Off a fortune cookie?"

Riku play-glared at the boy, his eyes softened, showing that he really didn't see what the boy had said as insulting. "Thanks, Sora," he said bitterly.

The three laughed. After a moment of silence, Kairi arose, and said, "Sora…Riku…don't ever change." While the two boys pondered what she meant by this, she turned to them, as hyper and cheerful as ever, and said, "Good night, both of you. Get some sleep. Tomorrow, we set sail!" She blew Sora a kiss, and just waved to Riku.

"Oh my God…" both of them said simultaneously. They had both forgotten about what the three of them had been working on for the past two months. Kairi, Sora, and Riku had built a raft, in which all three were going to sail off to foreign lands, and go on the adventures they had always dreamed of when they were young. Tomorrow was the day they left the islands, possibly forever.

Little did the trio know, that day was sooner than they expected.

"You forgot, too?" Riku asked.

"About the raft? Yeah." Sora sighed. "Are you sure you want to leave?"

"Yeah, positive. Why, do you not want to? Because, I don't want to force you to do anything you don't want to, save for a few things, but hell, who can control themselves when it comes to doing them with you…?" Riku smirked naughtily.

Sora chose to ignore the fact that Riku, one of the hottest guys on the islands in Sora's opinion was now flirting with him, and chose to answer the first question. "Yeah, I am ready to leave this place and start my own life, but…are you sure this is a good idea? I mean, what if we all end up in a place that we don't want to be, like, broke, homeless, and hungry, with nowhere else to turn?"

Riku stood up and chuckled, ruffling Sora's hair gently. "Don't worry, if that happens, I will think of something to make you safe." He offered his hand to help raise Sora off the sandy beach. Sora took advantage of this help, and soon found himself trying to get steady on his own two feet after a while of just sitting there.

"Promise?"

Riku gently squeezed Sora's hand. "Promise." His voice comforted Sora, made him believe it.

Sora giggled. "OK, well, good night!"

As they parted, Sora felt content. And later that night, just before dinner, he decided to take a nap. As he stripped down to his boxers and climbed into bed, he knew that he had grown a much stronger connection with his two best friends in one night then he had created with them over the course of his whole life. And as he drifted off to sleep, his two friends ran through his mind. _So glad to have them…_

_Sora found himself on an all-too-familiar beach. The sun was out, the waters calm, or so it would seem. It was mid-day, but nobody was out on the beach, which was extremely peculiar for this beach. Normally, Tidus or Wakka, or even Selphie would be out running around, getting ice cream and fighting with other kids (playfully, of course), or something along those lines. However, today, this was not the case._

_He saw a figure out in knee-deep water. The boy turned around, giving Sora a good look at the boy's face, though Sora had to squint as the sun glared in his eyes._

_The boy was Riku, who was displaying a facial expression of utter neutrality. He maintained this look, even as a giant tidal wave collected behind him, about to crash into him. Riku extended a hand to Sora, a silent plea for assistance._

_Without second thought, Sora sprung into action. Try as he might, however, he knew that he was never going to make it. "No! Riku's going to die!" he thought, "and it's all my fault!"_

_Unexpectedly, his legs used a newfound strength, and Sora's speed nearly doubled. Just before the tidal wave hit Riku's back, Sora tackled Riku, sending the two plunging into the waters. Though it should have been only waist-deep, the two, still embracing each other, kept falling into the darker depths. Sora could hardly breathe, but Riku did not seem to mind. Eventually, their feet hit something solid. It was a platform made of stained glass. Though it was too large for Sora to see clearly, Sora could tell it was very pretty._

_The actual platform only interested Sora for about a second. His eyes soon wandered up to what exactly was ON the platform. There were three platforms, almost like miniature pillars, each holding a different weapon- one holding a sword, another holding a staff, the third holding a shield._

_It was at this point that Riku snapped out of his calm behavior, and gave Sora Riku's good-old "What the hell?" look, which Sora promptly replied to with his infamous "Don't ask me, I'm just Sora" look._

"_So much to do, so little time. Take your time. Don't be afraid. You will always have each other."_

"_What?" Sora felt himself saying soundlessly, and then proceeded to watch Riku yell what Sora made out to be "If you don't get us out of this goddamn place, I swear I will…" and then came a long string of curse words oddly enough ending with what appeared to be the word " waffles."_

"_You must choose what you shall wield, and what you shall give up in return." And, as if it felt that was enough explanation, the voice shut off, leaving Sora and Riku in the dark, metaphorically and kind of physically, except there was light that seemed to originate from nowhere._

_Sora and Riku got the picture, though. They were supposed to choose one, and give up the other. Sora chose the Staff and gave up the Sword, and Riku chose the Sword and gave up the Shield._

_Once this had happened, the glass beneath them shattered. The voice came on and, calm as ever, it droned on. "We must end this, for the outside world calls you into its chaos, into its darkness. But don't be afraid. Just remember-you are the ones who will open the door._

Sora shot up in bed. Sweat pouring down his face, he glanced around, then realizing it was all just a dream, he fell back onto the mattress. _The world's chaos? Open the door? Psh, that's not cryptic or anything_. He sighed noiselessly. A strange pattern of lighting caught the corner of his eye. He turned to face the window. A large spherical object was hovering in the sky, as the shadows moved ominously. Lightning wreaked havoc on the ground, as the rain pelted the world mercilessly.

"A storm?" Sora asked nobody in particular. He shot up into a sitting position, revelation and horror overcoming him. "Oh no, the raft!" Realizing that the raft that was supposed to guide Sora, Riku, and Kairi out to their own little adventure may now be floating away with all of their collective dreams on it, he rushed out the door, barely throwing on clothing.

Arana Kawaii slaved over a pot of Yarisora, a sushi dish. She was a woman in her mid-thirties. She had brown hair dangling down to her shoulder blades, and entrancing blue eyes. Blue eyes that mirrored those of her own son, whom she was preparing the dinner for.

Arana always worked hard to make sure Sora was happy with everything. His father had abandoned the family when Sora was merely six. Ever since then, Arana has made a point to assure Sora's pleasure, be it buying Sora a new toy, letting Sora borrow $100 and the car for the weekend, or trusting Sora to make good decisions in life. She even went as far as forgive him and love him and support him despite the fact that he had openly admitted to her that he may or may not be homosexual-it was something he was struggling with, apparently.

Arana sighed. She just hoped Sora and she would be, if not together, then at each other's beck and call forever. She walked over to the stairway to call Sora down for dinner.

"Sora, dinner's ready, come on down!" she called, and was immediately concerned. Normally, when she had spoken the word "dinner," Sora would come barreling out of his room like a puppy dog going to its owner. Seeing no response, she walked up to his room, asking concernedly, "Sora?" She entered his room, hoping he wasn't doing anything…er, "that she wasn't prepared to see", only to find an empty room. As she looked out the window at the unprecedented storm that had rolled in during the past thirty minutes, she saw her baby on a boat, drifting off to sea and headed towards Paopu Island.

Arana sighed. "Sora Kawaii," she muttered to nobody threateningly, "I swear, if you don't make it back by curfew, I will have your head on the silver platter I was going to serve you Yarisora on…"

(A/N: Yarisora is the name of a sushi dish I made up. Like it? It can also be found in another story I wrote called, "Sanctuary: Another Side, Another Story")

Sora reached the island called Paopu Island with much difficulty. As he docked his boat, he noticed two ever-too-familiar boats were also there. "Riku's boat…and Kairi's…" That meant the two were somewhere on the island.

He looked up, scanning for his two best friends, who were nowhere to be found. What he did find, however, was frightening beyond his previous comprehension of the word.

The ominous-looking shadows literally came to be three-dimensional. They popped out of the ground and became real monsters. Sora gasped. They had a body structure that looked like a small child's drawing of an ant. They had a sphere of a head attached to a sphere of a body. The head had two bent antennas sticking out of it. Their eyes glowed a fierce yellow.

Without warning, the beings spring for Sora. They caught him with a swipe of their claws, knocking Sora back. Reeling from the sudden attack, he pushed the demonic beings out of his way as he ran blindly. Where he was running to, he wasn't sure. _Maybe Riku's out on his island…_ the agitated teen thought.

Sure enough, Riku stood calmly on a small island, connected to the rest of the island by a small bridge. As the darkness clustered around him, he just stood, looking at the sky, trying to remain calm. A million thoughts rushed through his mind at the same time. _What has happened to his island? Who had brought this attack? Why had they done this? Was this just a random end of the world? Or was it planned out? Was it an attack on their world? If so, what had their peaceful little islands done to deserve it? Most importantly, what now? Was there a way out of being consumed by the darkness?_

Riku didn't bother turning around as he heard footsteps frantically running towards him. They stopped, and he heard a familiar voice call his name. "Riku!"

Riku couldn't speak at first. Finally he came up with something, enigmatic as it may seem. "The door…has opened."

"What?" Sora asked, slightly taken aback by his friend's ambiguity.

"The door has opened, Sora! Now we can go to the outside world!" Riku spoke with an air of determination, though the words that he spoke were now a mere stream of consciousness.

"What? What about Kairi? I thought she was with you!"

"Kairi's coming with us!" Riku snapped, immediately regretting being so harsh with Sora. However, how could Sora not see the opportunity in the disaster. "Once we step through," he continued, even as Sora pouted his adorable pout because Riku snapped at him, "we may never see our parents again. There's no turning back!" A smile creased his lips, as he felt oddly heroic. "I'm not afraid of the darkness!"

He stood, an expression of utter neutrality plastered on his face. He reached out a hand, a silent command for Sora to take it.

While he did this, the ground beneath his feet became darker by the second. "Riku…" Sora said cautiously. Riku didn't seem to care, or mind, as he still remained disinterested in everything but Sora taking his hand.

It was then that Sora knew he had to save his friend from the spreading darkness. He took a few steps back, then ran towards Riku at full speed. Just as his feet were about to become cemented into the darkness, he leaped, diving at Riku and tackling him with full-force. Riku let out a surprised yelp, as they plunged into the dark portal beneath their feet, forever abandoning their former home.

Riku felt Sora's body go limp in his arms. Whether the cause of it was the vertigo received from spinning in the Apocalyptic midnight that currently consumed the two, or just total shock, Riku could not blame Sora. After all, it took all of Riku's strength to not copy Sora. He cradled Sora's body in his arms.

Riku felt his eyes studying the younger's body. _Sora Kawaii. _Riku thought. _I…I think…I love him. He's so cute, his face shows the perfect mix of childhood and adolescence. He always has an upbeat attitude, but when he gets sad or, apparently, when he is unconscious, he always does the cutest pouty face._ Riku sighed out loud. _Maybe, when they were making out, maybe I wasn't jealous that Sora got to kiss Kairi. Maybe it was the other way around._

As Riku serenely stroked Sora's hair, put up in their usual spikes, only now they were a bit more ruffled, he thought back to a song.

Riku thought silently of a song, he often used it as a lullaby for himself. Without fail, it always put him to sleep, and this time was no different. He soon found that he had slipped into the quiet oblivion of sleep.


	2. Chapter 2: Death, Meetings, and a Story

Thank you so much for all the reviews!

Lunarxshinobi- Well, SOME of my stories are 3 chapters, but I think this one will be a lot more…

KHObsessedEvilgeniusoftheCOCA- Heh, wait and find out…

Fuschica- Duhh! Hmm…now I have to decide on Riku and Kairi's last names…too bad I don't know any Japanese --

Summary- If you don't remember, just click the "back" button. You lazy bastard!

A/N: Rules about not having song lyrics in your FanFic are kinda dumb. I mean, if your FanFic isn't dominated by songs, and you accredit the real author, what's the big deal?

Disclaimer: (Insert usual "I-don't-Own-Kingdom-Hearts-Or-Anything-Really" Speech Here)

Kingdom Hearts: Altering Promises

Chapter 2: Death, Introductions, and a Story

Donald Duck was nothing short of irritated. After all today's events, nobody in the castle could blame him. Hell, some felt just as agitate as he was. In an effort to calm down and pause for thought, he was now wandering through the well-designed halls of Disney Castle.

The best description ever given of Donald was "an adorable lump of fluff and fire." He had the same head and body structure of a regular duck. A large yellow-orange beak sprouted from the lower half of his face, the top half being occupied by two large, sky-blue eyes. He had clothing for this world, a mage's hat curling at the top and a jacket-and-pants combo that were matching dark blue and had a myriad of zippers. He wore an alternative outfit for interstellar travel. This was a blue hat that looked like a beret and a light blue top, no pants. Pants, however, were optional to ducks. His incendiary personality made him one that people were often attempting to appease. Despite this, he was eternally grumpy, but in an adorable way.

Today, he was no different. If anything, he was more angered. Today's plans were ruined. Donald rubbed his temples irritably as he replayed the day for the 400th time.

He had woken up, like any other day. He had gone through his mundane activities of showering, eating, and getting dressed. Walking outside, he had spotted Goofy, still snoozing innocently. He briefly toyed with the idea of awakening him in a… "shocking" manner, but then thought better. He walked over to a very large pair of doors. They were light purple and had a giant King's Symbol on them. Donald cleared his throat, and did the secret knock. One, two, three, pause, one, two, three, four. The door swung open. As he did every day, Donald walked up the red carpet to the King's throne. "Good morning, your Majesty…" he proclaimed, acting as interested in the words as the first day he had spoken them. "It's nice to see you this morn…" he stopped as his gaze fell upon the now-empty throne. "Wha…?" he asked, not even bothering to finish the word. His mind scrambled to try and justify the King's absence. _Maybe he's with the Queen! Maybe he's in his study? Maybe he's guarding the Cornerstone of Light! Maybe-_

His thought process was cut off as he sensed movement near the throne. As he looked for it's source, a big orange dog had emerged from behind the throne. The King's loyal pet dog, Pluto, held a piece of paper with the King's Symbol on it. Calling Pluto over to him, Donald had taken the letter from Pluto's mouth, opened it, and read silently.

_Dear Donald,_

_Sorry to have left without even sayin' goodbye, but we got a real emergency. It seems like the stars have been blinkin' out, one by one. I've left the castle to investigate. I need you to take Goofy and help me. There is someone out there with a "key"- the key to our survival. Go to Traverse Town and find him for me. Ask Leon, he will point you in the right direction. Good luck!_

_P.S. Could ya apologize to Minnie for me? Thanks, pal._

The letter concluded with the King's Symbol, confirming that the King wrote this, and this wasn't some prankster's twisted idea of a joke. Donald had read it over twice, just before barreling out of the Throne Room towards the Courtyard, running like his feathery tail was in flames.

He had approached Goofy to find him idly napping. "Wake up, Goofy! This is serious!" Donald had pleaded, but to no avail. _Honestly, Goofy…_Donald had thought. He pointed a finger to the sky and hollered, sending a bolt of lightning down on Goofy, who awoke with a yelp. Rubbing the sleepiness out of his eyes, he turned his attention to the frightened duck before him. "G'morning, Donald," Goofy said cheerfully.

Donald wasted no time with formalities. "We've got a problem, Goofy! But don't tell anyone…"

"Queen Minnie?" Goofy asked, his gaze elsewhere.

"Not even the Queen!"

"Daisy?"

"No!" Donald bellowed. "It's top secret!"

"Good morning, ladies!" Goofy called to someone behind Donald.

"What?" Donald asked, as he turned around. There stood two women who looked like the female versions of Donald and the King. The one that looked like Donald was named Daisy. She was Donald's sweetheart, and she had just as much of a temper as the man…er, duck. She wore a golden tiara, light purple eye shadow, and a matching purple, elegant dress. The clothing choice was the only way, using sight only, that one could tell the difference between Donald and Daisy. Queen Minnie was also almost a mirror image of the King, only she had a frilly pink dress, a fancy tiara, and curly lashes, while the King was…well, let's leave it at "differently dressed."

When Donald had seen tem, he had gulped loudly, and let out a nervous laugh. Meanwhile, on the inside, he was making obscene comments on his luck, or lack thereof.

The rest of the morning had all been a blur to him, but Donald remembered the basics. He and Goofy had been sent to find the "key to their survival" as soon as Queen Minnie had gotten a hold of the letter. He was being sent away from home on another mission for the third time this week, and something told Donald this one wouldn't just be a walk in the park.

He sighed. _What a day…_he thought. And he had been looking forward to eating cheesecake for lunch with the King. Now, Donald was left feeling, to put it simply and cleanly, pissed.

Kairi leaned up against the wall of the Secret Place, hoping the room would serve as a temporary sanctuary from the beings that lurked outside. Thankfully, none had found her…yet.

She collapsed in a heap of exhaustion. She had sharp pains coming from every part of her body, and every time she moved, her corresponding body part howled in protest. She figured maybe she would die crumpled up like this. She figured that was no way to die. She would rather be killed standing up and putting up a fight than in a weak position like that which she was in now. She hoisted herself up and, once again, her body cried for mercy, which was something she just couldn't give.

She glanced down at her newly acquired weapon, and giggled uncontrollably. It was the most feminine thing she had ever seen. It was a blade that was shaped like a key. The key-shaped-blade was yellow and orange in color with flowers sprouting out of it randomly. _This thing is adorable _and_ deadly!_ She giggled quietly.

Then, a sound that she hadn't heard in a while caused her to stop sniggering like a mad woman. Footsteps were headed her way. Though she feared this person may have tried to kill Kairi, she did not have the energy to raise her blade. Instead, she just waited, standing in front of a mysterious door with no keyhole and no doorknob. _Who's coming? _she wondered. _Riku? Sora? _She suddenly became excited at the thought of her heroic boyfriend coming to the rescue.

She felt let down when she saw Tidus scamper into the room and stop at the sight of her. Kairi held her hand out in a plea for help. She hobbled over to him as she whispered "Ti…dus…"

Without warning, the door behind her burst open, and darkness flew out of it in long strands, along with a strong wind. Kairi blew towards Tidus. He reached out in an attempt to catch her as she flew, but instead, she disappeared when there should have been a collision. He had effectively absorbed her. Unfortunately, he hadn't braced himself for the rest of the wind He flew backwards and, instead of allowing the wind to carry him out of the Secret Place, he struggled, and ended up crashing head-first into the rock just to the left of the exit, killing both him and Kairi on impact.

Had someone been there, they would have sworn they heard, "Sora…where were you?" whispered before the howling winds drowned out all other sounds.

Squall Leonhart walked along the First District, thinking about a guy he once knew.

Squall, though he insisted on being called Leon to help forget the helpless sap he had been years ago, was about twenty-two years old. His brown hair stretched down to his shoulders, and covered part of his left eye, which was an entrancing dark blue, with neat bangs. He wore a white undershirt with a dark blue overshirt, which was unbuttoned completely. He wore three belts, and skin-tight leather pants. He wielded a sword that fired fireballs. He called it a "Gunblade."

He snapped out of his thought process as he tripped over an object in the alley behind Huey, Dewey, and Louie's Item Shop. Four legs were sprawled across the alley. A brunette teen lay comfortably across a taller, silver-haired youth, who seemed to be about the same age. The scene was, for lack of a better description, cute. Serenely cute. In any other place, they would have been thought of as a couple of alcoholics who just had a one night fling together, and were now passed out from one too many tequilas. However, Leon had lived in this town long enough to know better.

Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out the latest in technology- the Verismo 2680 flip-camera-cell phone. Pressing and holding the number four, a phone number registered in speed dial. It had the title "Aerith," and then it gave a lengthy series of digits separated by dashes and parentheses. The phone on the other end rang twice before somebody said "hello?" The voice acted normal, yet if one listened really closely, they could catch an undertone of the kind of frenzy thirteen-year-old girls get when they have had about fifteen Mountain Dews.

"Hey, Aerith?" Leon asked.

"No,thisisn'tAerith. Aerithisrighthere, though. Wannatalktoher? Huh? Huh? OK, butfirst, youhaftaguesswhothisis! Goahead, guess!"

Leon sighed. This wasn't good for his head, as a migraine threatened to burst inside his brain. "Yuffie, lay off the chocolates, and give the phone to Aerith."

"…Fine…" Yuffie sulked.

"Leon heard rustling, then a more calmed, gentle voice spoke. "Yes?"

Leon smiled. "Aerith? We've got two more. They're a couple of-holy…" He stopped as he noticed what they were carrying, loosely holding in their comatose hands.

"What?" Aerith inquired.

"Th-these boys are t-two Keyblade masters!"

"…Two?"

"Yeah…" he peered down at the two, cuddled up with each other. Leon smiled as he thought back to that one fateful day back in Twilight Town…

"…Leon?" The voice on the other end finally spoke, confusion coursing through its tone. "Are you feeling all right?"

"Well, no, but that's only because I got a migraine because of Yuffie."

Aerith laughed. "OK…"

"Anyways, could you come help me pick up the bodies? I'm in the alley behind the Item Shop."

"Okay, be right there! Bye!" _Click!_ Aerith had hung up, no doubt smiling sweetly at nobody in particular.

Leon put away his camera-flip-cell phone, staring at the boys and sighing. "Keyblade masters, eh?" he asked the boys, obviously not expecting them to respond. "Lucky bastards…" He leaned against the wall, waiting for Aerith, his mind wandering back to a place called Twilight Town.

_Riku calmly sat on his Island with Sora and Kairi. It was just your average 9 PM on these islands. They sat on a paopu tree, Sora animatedly talking with Kairi about the latest gossip on the islands, while Riku half-listened to what they said._

_They stopped talking, and stared in the general direction of where Riku was looking. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kairi slowly turn to a million particles, then, as if she were dust in the midst of a desert windstorm, she vanished. Riku gulped and closed his eyes, a tear falling out of his left one. He knew that he would be next. This would be the end of him._

_But, all of a sudden, he felt a hand grab his, a warm body pressed up to his. Soaking up the new comfort, his body didn't notice as he slowly faded to dust, just as he had feared. He didn't notice that the next thing that was spoken, those three words, would be the last Riku would hear before he was banished into the darkness._

_Sora leaned into him and whispered, "Let's vanish together."_

"Come on, you lazy bum, wake up!" A cheerful voice greeted Riku as he awoke from his slumber. Blinking a couple of times, he looked up to see his favorite brunette standing over him. Now sporting a look of concern, the youthful adolescent asked Riku, "Are you OK?" Riku lazily nodded in response. The boy giggled.

"Those creatures that attacked you were after your heart. They fear it because you wield the Keyblade."

Riku slowly got to his feet, then walked over and embraced the young boy. "I'm so glad you're okay…Sora."

"Sora?" 'Sora' asked, his voice becoming deeper by the second. "Um…who are you talking about? My n…name is Squa…uh, Leon." He quickly corrected himself.

"What?" Riku looked at him and, to his utter shock and chagrin, he found himself cuddling with a guy he didn't know in his early twenties. "Uh…hi?" Riku said awkwardly.

"Hi…" Leon responded slowly. As Riku looked into the man's eyes, as his aquamarine met this Leon's dark blue, he noticed the man's eyes were clouded with confusion. There was a question on his mind, and even though Riku knew very well what that question was, even Riku himself wasn't entirely sure of the answer.

The two finally parted from their uncomfortable embrace, and Riku got introduced to two women. One was named Aerith. She was a benevolent-looking woman who Riku guessed was somewhere around Leon's age. She had forest green eyes, and brown hair neatly put in a pink boy and also a rat's tail. Normally, Riku thought rat's tails were ugly, but they seemed to fit her perfectly. She wore a long, pink dress, buttoned along the front. She had a blue belt tied around her waist. Aerith spoke calmly, quietly, and amiably. Judging by how she looked at Riku with respect, he could tell the two of them were going to be like brother and sister.

The second girl was named Yuffie. She had brown eyes and black shoulder-length hair with bangs covering parts of her forehead. She wore a green top with a yellow scarf and tan cargo shorts that didn't leave much to the imagination. Yuffie was nice but, to put it bluntly, she was more annoying than Selphie when fed a whole packet of gummy bears (which was, indeed, scary.) Once the two were introduced, she started talking extremely rapidly. She said a lot of things, but Riku caught a grand total of eight words. Somehow, she had gotten from how cool Riku looked, to past relationships, to her favorite color, to beavers in less than thirty seconds. To make matters worse, she eventually stopped talking and stared at him as if he was expected to answer a question she had asked him. As he slowly turned read, his head whirled around the room, desperately looking for help from Aerith and Leon. Unfortunately, the two were too busy snickering at Riku's expense.

Finally, Leon helped him. "She asked what your name was."

"Ah…" Riku sighed, relieved. "My name is Riku Semehikari." He stuck his hand out, motioning for SOMEONE to take it.

Leon grabbed it first. He shook forcefully, but also, in it's own weird way, gently. "Squall Leonhart. But please call me Leon."

Yuffie bounded up to Riku afterwards and slightly yanked his hand towards her, causing Riku to stumble forwards. She shook with gentle pressure on the hand, but with rapid up-and-down movements. "Yuffie Kisaragi, at your service," she said cheerfully.

Aerith calmly walked up and took his hand. Shaking it gently, she said, "Aerith Gainsborough."

After a moment of silence, Leon turned to the two girls. "Aerith, would you mind running down to the item's shop and going grocery shopping?" He handed her a list with random items on it. Aerith looked at him quizzically.

"I thought we agreed to get it done tomorrow."

"Yes, well…better to do it now and get it over with, right?" Leon asked, winking subtly to Aerith. Taking a moment as the Universal "Trust Me, Just Leave" Sign registered, she eventually gave a knowing "Oh…" Her eyes darted from Riku to Leon, then finally coming to rest on the only other girl in the room. "Yuffie…would you mind coming with me? The Heartless are absolutely rampant."

"Um…not at all?" The response sounded more like a poorly-worded question than a response, but Aerith accepted it. She grabbed Yuffie's hand and, as they walked away, they began whispering excitedly to one another.

Once they were out of earshot, Leon turned around and peered at Riku, examining his posture. Judging by how he presented himself, Leon considered Riku to be kind of self0absorbed. He seemed to be cold to strangers, but warm to his friends (very warm to some, as Leon had just discovered.)

Meanwhile, Riku was examining the room around him. Seeing how suitcases were scattered across the room, with articles of clothing strewn every which way, Riku guessed they were in a hotel. The room had dark yellow walls with green borders all around them. There was one green bed. At first, Riku thought that Leon, Yuffie, and Aerith slept in the same bed. However, the door to the next room held a sign that said "Yuffie and Aerith's Room…No boys or Heartless allowed." Obviously, they had multiple rooms.

"Hey," Leon started , captivating the boy's attention. "About earlier…"

Riku lost his cool. He turned pink and sputtered, "Oh, well, erm…sorry…about that…he, he…ehh…"

"It's cool. So, who's Sora?" Leon asked, a smirk upon his face, while he raised an eyebrow inquisitively.

"Oh! Um…just a friend…" Riku said lamely.

"Just a friend? Just THIS friend?" Leon moved, revealing a boy with cinnamon spiky hair laying unconscious on the Green bed. He had been laying next to Riku.

"SORA!" Riku shouted as he dashed towards the boy, wrapping him into a tight hug. A tear slid down his cheeks. "Thank God…I thought I had lost you…"

Leon coughed politely. Riku spun around. Catching Leon's smug expression, he jokingly yelled, "Shut up!"

"Hey, I didn't say anything," Leon smiled.

Riku was still redder than a ripe tomato as his gaze fell upon the floorboards beneath his feet. "Hey," Leon sat next to him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder, "not like I'm one to judge…"

Riku looked at him curiously, tears of joy still threatening to escape his hypnotizing eyes. "You're gay?" he asked.

Leon smiled nonchalantly. "I guess it's story time…" Riku looked on while Leon told his tale of romance and heartbreak.

_Once upon a sunny time, Leon had lived with Aerith, Yuffie, and some other man named Cid in a town called Hollow Bastion. The world was peaceful, people dwelled in one neighborhood, and went to the marketplace if they needed anything at all. And there was eternal light in this town, and the people would bask in it's glory. They used the peace it offered to make astonishing technological prowess. They made items that would make the townsfolk back on Destiny Island fall to the ground and worship as if it were a God._

One of the things they achieved was a rocket, which they called a Gummi Ship. It was composed of Gummi, which was an abundant material found throughout the galaxy. They used these Gummi Ships to explore as far as they could. They were usually limited by invisible walls that once stood between planets, cutting off any hopes of traveling to said new worlds. However there was one exception- Twilight Town. By some odd occurrence (miracle? Maybe.), the wall between the two had vanished long ago. Twilight Town was only about two hours away by average-speed Gummi Ships, so people often used it as a vacation spot.

_One fateful morning Leon (who then went by Squall), and Aerith both decide they need a vacation. They decided that Twilight Town was the ideal place for a getaway. The rest of the gang blatantly refused to come (for this reason or that), so it was just Aerith and Squall that went._

_They boarded the plane, and took their seats. Gummi ships were a lot like miniature airplanes. They could seat anywhere between one and three-hundred and sixty four, depending on how large your ship was. This was one of the larger models, seating about three hundred. Squall and Aerith took their seats as the captain and flight attendants prepared for take-off._

_Two hours later, they all de-boarded the plane. Aerith and Leon were one of the first to hop off. Once off, Aerith stretched her hands out as far as they could go and yawned, while Leon scratched the back of his neck, looking around._

_The town was nice. As suggested in the name, even though it was noon, the sky showed all of its colors in eternal sunset. The orange hue in the sky reflected onto the buildings, people, and planet itself, giving everything it's a very light-colored look. The light reflected off the windows of all the red brick buildings, the sparse shops, and this one teenager's hideout. People passed through the place gleefully, skipping along to do this or that._

_That's where Squall first saw him._

_He was standing in line at the candy shop, which also served as a kind of supermarket. He was dressed in a dark outfit that Squall could not begin to describe. It consisted of a blood red skin-tight top with a matching cape, which was ragged on its edges. He wore armor on one of his shoulders, leaving the other one bare. He dressed in blue pants, with metal bands around his ankles. Brown boots covered his feet, while blue gloves sheltered his hands from the outside world. He had blonde hair put up in wild spikes, giving him a roughish look. The man looked over at Squall, and Squall got a look into his eyes. They were blue, like Squall's, only a lighter blue, like the ocean, and not like a dark lake, like Squall's were._

_Squall quickly looked away, embarrassed that he had been caught staring at this total stranger who probably didn't like him back. Still, Squall felt compelled to get to know this guy a little bit better. This curiosity heightened when the man smiled warmly, and, after getting two cups of coffee from the store, he walked over. "Oh shit, Aerith, he's coming this way, what the hell do I do?"_

_Aerith blushed slightly. She had never heard Leo- erm, Squall, curse like that before. At first, she didn't know what he was talking about, until she locked eyes with a blonde who was coming their way. "Oh! He, he, he…" she chuckled malevolently._

_Squall's eyes widened as he realized what this meant. Squall whirled around, and screamed, "WOMAN, IF YOU FUCK THIS UP FOR ME, SO HELP ME GOD, I WILL…"_

_"Well now," a low voice cooed behind him, "and here I thought you looked polite."_

_Squall swiveled back around to find himself face-to-face with the object of his desire. Squall blushed furiously, and apologized quietly to him._

_The blonde laughed. "It's okay, might want to apologize to her, though," he motioned over to Aerith, who beamed at the sudden attention, though just as quickly as she had received it, it was taken away. The blonde turned back around to face Squall. "Coffee?" he asked, motioning with his hand for Squall to take the extra cup in his hand._

_Squall's heart pounded a drum solo against his ribcage as he took the cup. Their fingers brushed against each other's, and Squall soon felt himself fighting a blush that threatened to creep up his neck and overtake his face, though he soon found himself surrendering to said blush._

_Cloud had noticed this, and smirked smugly to himself. "I'm Cloud," he stuck his hand out politely._

_"Nice to meet ya, Cloud. I'm Squall." Squall took his hand, and felt a flurry of excitement coarse through his whole body._

_"Squall…that's a pretty name." Squall blushed again._

_"Thanks. I like your name better, though."_

_Squall felt self-satisfied when he saw that Cloud's face turned a little bit red after he had said this. Both boys grinned goofily, lost in each other's eyes. They were snapped out of their trance by Aerith whistling a tune that sounded disturbingly like the chant, "Squall and Cloud, sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G. First comes love, then comes marriage, then co…"_

_"AERITH…dearest," Squall began, " why don't you go and, err…get Cloud a sandwich from the deli?"_

_Aerith raised an eyebrow curiously, but soon answered her own questions. She giggled, then said, "Okay," and, with a whisper of "you two play nice now," which was met with Squall muttering almost-silent curses at her, she turned on her heel and left._

_Squall turned back to Cloud. Cloud studied him curiously. "You aren't from around here, are you?"_

_Squall looked at him funny. _How could he have known that I was a foreigner? _he thought. Squall decided to voice this question._

_Cloud laughed quietly, and responded. "Three things- one, you just got off a Gummi Ship that was just leaving. Two, you're wearing an 'I  Hollow Bastion' shirt. Finally, very few of the residents here in Twilight Town are this beautiful." Cloud continued casually as he brought his hand up to Squall's cheek, feeling him, as if to see if he felt as perfect as he looked, which, judging by his soft smile, apparently, he was._

_Squall turned a little more red, then giggled adorably. "I guess you were one of the lucky exceptions to this rule?" Squall grinned eagerly, anxious to see if his attempt to emulate the smoothness of Cloud's last statement had worked._

_Cloud laughed appreciatively. "Yeah. This one boy named Sephiroth and I are about all there is as far as pretty goes around these parts."_

_Squall's brow furrowed jealously. "Sephiroth?" _Damn it, _he thought to himself, _I didn't know I would have to put up with competition.

_Cloud smiled warmly, catching Squall's not-so-subtle resentment. "Don't worry. Sephiroth is an asshole. You're basically the best around here."_

_The rest of the afternoon, they spent leaning against a curved wall of a building, watching as the skateboarders tried to skate around them, but occasionally. They talked vivaciously about everything, from their lives to their childhoods to their favorite things. Apparently, Cloud had grown up in a rough neighborhood called Midgar. Some group led by a guy named Kadaj would harass him and his friends on a daily basis. He only really had four friends, and their names were Tifa, Barrett, Jesse, and another boy he would not mention. He said the other two died long ago, but the first two were out there somewhere. Now, Cloud lived in an apartment here by himself, working at the local weapons shop, and participating in the annual Struggle competition. This was a sport where two competitors beat each other up with blue plastic cylindrical "weapons". From their little talk, Squall also learned that Cloud loved puppies and flowers and fighting and most Jackie Chan movies, but Cloud hated disgustingly colorful things, preppy girls, and people who were cocky but weren't as big as they spoke of themselves as._

_Aerith had come back at the beginning, but had ended up giving them time to get to know each other a little more, and instead she conversed with the mother of a girl named Olette, who was off playing with two friends, one who was plump and dark-haired, the other being, tall, lean, strong, and a dirty-blonde._

_Squall decided, eventually, that he was thirsty. He excused himself from their conversation, and went to get a quick drink in the local bar. There was nobody else in there, except for a completely blasted blonde who, Squall had to admit, was kind of cute. He sat down on a stool, and asked the bartender for a glass of champagne. "I have to get me some courage," he smiled politely._

_"For what?" the bartender asked_

_"Well…promise you won't judge me?" the bartender and the blonde nodded interestedly. "Okay, well, there's this really cute guy outside that I need to ask out. He's standing outside now, probably expecting me to come back with a martini."_

The drunken blonde looked out the doorway, which was made of glass. "Well, I think ya better hurry (hic) up n' ask 'im. 'E seems to like that brown-haired purty lady." He staggered in his seat as he slurred his words.

_Squall looked frantically at the doorway. Sure enough, Aerith was talking with Cloud excitedly alone. The two were giggling as if they were in love._

Shit, _Squall thought as he chugged down his champagne, then hurried out the door. _I don't want to lose him already!_ "Hey!" The bartender called after him, "you never paid!"_

_Squall through a fistful of munny behind him as he barreled out the door without thinking twice. "Keep the change!" he yelled over his shoulder. He turned around, and to his shock and horror…_

_Cloud and Aerith were gone._

_Squall ran out of the bar, and looked around frantically for the two. There was no sign of either. Squall sat down, tears falling from his eyes. He had fallen for this guy the first time he had seen him, and yet he failed in getting him._

_Squall slowly rose to his feet, wiping his face clean of his tears, and began searching for the two. He searched all day, asking random people on the street if they had seen the couple. They had either answered "no" or "yeah, just a little while ago." The latter started to become more and more common as the day wore on._

_Finally, he saw a familiar pink dress silhouetted down a long, dusty path. Squall chased after the dress, Aerith's dress, at full speed. Arriving at his destination, he placed a firm hand on Aerith's shoulder and asked, "Aerith, where have you been?"_

_Aerith spun around, and was delighted to see him. "Leon!" she ran up and hugged him._

_"Where's Cloud?" he asked, being somewhat apathetic to the fact that she had been cutely overjoyed to see him._

_"Well, I don't know. He kind of left after a while of you being in the bar, and when I went to look for him, I got lost."_

_"Oh…" Squall said, disappointed. He started to wonder about something, and soon curiosity bested him. "Aerith?" he asked. "What were you talking about with him?"_

_Aerith turned red. "Oh! Well, um…he…promised…I mean, uh, I promised I wouldn't tell."_

_"Okay…" Squall said, trying his best to remain calm. "Now tell me this…was it about me?"_

_"…Yes."_

_Squall smiled. Maybe Cloud hadn't forgotten him and fell for Aerith after all._

"And then what happened?" Riku asked.

Leon chuckled. "Well, I'll give you the short version. I never saw him again. Seven days after that, Hollow Bastion was destroyed by the Heartless. I was helpless in the fight against them. We all made it to Traverse Town, except for Tifa, bless her soul. I became stronger and stronger through countless bouts with the Heartless. I changed my name to Leon to forget Squall, forget the man that stood helpless while the Heartless destroyed everything he knew and loved."

Riku was silent, then scoffed. "Damn. I would have been better off just dying on Destiny Islands, huh?"

Leon laughed. "Pretty much. So, I guess the moral of the story is, if you love something, don't let it slip away from you. Take the opportunity to fall in love by the horns."

Riku sighed. "Easier said than done. After all, I don't know how he…"

"Mmpfh." Sora groaned as he came back into consciousness.

"Sora!" Riku yelled. Sora clamped his hands to his ears.

"Oww…Ri-kuuu! I have a headache…" Sora complained.

Riku apologized, "Heh. Sorry! I'm just so glad you're awake…"

"Riku…" Sora began, noticing his surroundings. "Where are we?"

Leon stepped forward. "You're Sora right?" Sora nodded. Leon smiled and turned to Riku. "Sora…Riku…Welcome…to Traverse Town."

So, if I continued at this point, I'm assuming the chapter would be twenty to thirty pages long, so I'm going to make Traverse Town two chapters. Please Review! Thank ya!


	3. Chapter 3: Welcome to Traverse Town

Ay ay ay...sorry this took forever to update --

Anyways, please read and review? Pweease? Pouts Sora also pouts So does the entire cast of Kingdom Hearts Don't ask how Donald pouts please...

Kingdom Hearts: Altered Promises

Chapter 3: Welcome to Traverse Town

Sora blinked slowly, while Riku cuddled him, overjoyed that Sora wasn't dead. "Traverse Town?" he asked, his voice unintentionally cracking. As if it was ever intentional. "You mean…this isn't my island?"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Slow down. You mean…we're in another _world?_" Riku asked, finally paying attention to something other than Sora. Not that Sora minded the attention. Hell, especially coming from Riku, this attention was-

"Well kid," a voice began from behind Leon, snapping Sora away from any thoughts that were to come about Riku and attention, "this ain't yer island, that's fer sure." Leon turned to face the newcomers, giving Sora and Riku a good view of who they were.

It was just Aerith and Yuffie, returning with a bunch of groceries. Accompanying them, however, was someone entirely new. He was a gruff-looking man, whom Riku and Sora guessed was about thirty years old. He had blonde hair not styled in any particular fashion. His hair looked like he had just been sleeping, and he hadn't taken the time to comb it or anything. He was strong, rather tall, a five-o-clock shadow adding to the roughish look he sported. The man wore a white t-shirt, an extremely large orange belt, and blue jeans, which were rather tight-fitting. He had what appeared to be a red whistle draped around his neck. Though he spoke with a tough, southern accent, his eyes were a gentle blue, somewhat lighter than Sora's.

Riku grinned at them, still holding Sora. "You're back!"

"Yep yep!" Yuffie responded. Then, as if in unison, the five of them turned to Sora, and noticed he was awake. They then realized, once again in unison, that Sora didn't know any of these people. While Leon took Aerith aside to fill her in on…something, the hyper one dealt with formalities. She pointed rapidly as she spoke. "That's Cid," She pointed to the gruff man who had entered moments ago. "…Howdy…" was his response as he studied them as if they were an abstract painting by Picasso.

"That's Leon." Leon stopped talking to Aerith (but not before Sora caught something about the words, "in love." What were they talking about?) He smiled softly and gave a wave, slightly winking at him, sending him a secret signal. Riku caught it, and grinned widely. Sora had no clue what they were talking about but he was now curious.

The perky girl introducing Sora to the gang cut him off from letting curiosity best him by continuing. "That's Aerith." Aerith, as she was no doubt expecting to be next, gave Sora a little wave and a friendly smile. _She seems sweet…_ he thought to himself.

"And I'm Yuffie!" she said proudly. She held out a hand for Sora to shake, and he obliged, shaking Yuffie's hand. What he didn't expect (but should have) was for Yuffie's hand shake to be filled to the brim with excitement. So much excitement, in fact, that he almost fell off the bed he was sitting on, but instead he did an awkward sitting-stumble. Riku, who was still clinging onto him, fell forward with him, giving a surprised "Aah!" Riku pushed on Sora's back and Sora, being the lighter of the two, caved in, sending the two toppling to the floor.

"Smooth move." Cid said sarcastically, while everyone else in the room (except Sora and Riku) burst into laughter.

Sora sat up, fuming. "Shut up! It wasn't that funny!" he said indignantly, drawing his lower lip out into that trademarked pout of his. Riku smiled at this, and started to chuckle a little. Sora, noticing this, turned to face Riku.

"You're not helping!" Sora bawled, as he began to play-punch Riku. Riku started cracking up, as the two began wrestling on the floor. Aerith and Yuffie giggled girlishly, Cid raised an eyebrow and just stared, while Leon clenched his fists and shut his eyes hard, saying to himself _Mind out of the gutter, mind out of the gutter_…

When they had finished, about five minutes later, Riku was laying on top of Sora, both gasping for air. They had tickled, punched, rolled, and flattened the breath out of each other. Leon smirked and stepped towards them. "So…now that you two have had your little fun, want us to fill you in on the rest of the story?"

Riku and Sora simultaneously cocked their heads to the side and said "What?" Then, they stared at each other for a while, and after, they burst into more laughter. Leon rolled his eyes at their antics. _Obviously, their teachers in school had a hard time teaching these brats._

Once they had finished, Riku and Sora locked eyes. _He's got such pretty eyes…_Sora thought as he stared up into Riku's aquamarine eyes, which seemed like an endless ocean. Meanwhile, Riku thought to himself, _He has such gorgeous eyes…_They were blue. A darker blue than Riku's, kind of a sky blue, matching parts of his hooded sweatshirt perfectly. Riku could stare at them all day…

"Ahem…" Leon cleared his throat. Sora and Riku snapped back to reality, blushing a little at the fact that they had, just like in every tacky romance movie Kairi had dragged the two along to see, gotten lost in each other's eyes. "Anyways…you're probably wondering what happened to your island, right?"

"Yeah." Said Riku and Sora at the same time.

"Jesus, talk about yer one-track mind…" Cid commented sardonically.

"HEY! That's not true!"

Leon did not want to waste any time. "Come on, guys, pay attention. It's only a matter of time before _they _find us." At this, everyone shut up. Riku and Sora were quiet because they were pondering what this meant, and everyone else was quiet because they knew exactly what it meant.

Leon continued. "Riku, Sora, do either of these look familiar to you?" He ran to the nearby closet, and pulled out two blades that were kind of shaped like keys. One was a shiny silver, with three pegs protruding from one end, and a long, yellow handle with a thin, silver bar slicing it down the middle on the other end. The other looked exponentially cooler, blending shades of black, red, and blue together to form what appeared to be a more gothic version of Sora's blade. Riku and Sora gaped at the two blades.

Leon snickered. "I'm going to guess, by the looks on your faces, you have no idea what these are."

The two just shook their heads in response.

Leon continued. "These are what people call a Keyblade. See, when your islands were destroyed, were you both attacked by black things that popped out of the ground, shadows made three-dimensional?" Riku and Sora nodded vigorously, with Sora cringing slightly at the thought of them. "Those are called Heartless. They are, literally, beings without hearts. When you die, unless you are pure of heart, a Heartless and a Nobody are created. But, you don't have to worry about Nobodies, for they, for some strange reason, appear very rarely. What we all have to focus on are the Heartless.

"Now, the world is made up of light and darkness. Yin and yang. Opposites that are supposed to, in essence, nullify the other. However, the darkness tends to want to surpass the light. And they method of combating and preventing this is the Keyblade.

"The Keyblade has a long history, you know. Many heroes from myriad generations have wielded it. One legend says it's wielder brought peace and prosperity to the worlds, while another says it's wielder wrought chaos on the universe. All legends, however, say that there is only one Keyblade, so finding two Key-bearers…well, lying on top of each other is quite…peculiar." Everyone in the room nodded, all knowing that peculiar was the understatement of the millennium.

Leon carried on. "Anyhow, your island was what we call a dead world. The Heartless, unfortunately, got to the heart of your world, and defeated it from within. Once the Heartless are at the center of the world…it's all over. So, that is why you need to continue on, and save the planets. Is that clear?"

Riku and Sora sat still for a moment, absorbing all of the new information. Finally, Riku sighed, and rubbed his temples, feeling a headache pushing on the inside of his forehead. _Damn…it's going to be a long day_ he thought.

Riku had no idea.

Donald Duck was, to put it simply and cleanly, pissed. He was pissed when Queen Minnie got a hold of the letter the King had left, and sent him and Goofy on a mission to find this "Key to their Survival," and then find the King. He was pissed when they had got into the gummi ship, the tension from the uncertainty of when he and Goofy would return so thick he could cut it with a knife. And now, as Goofy and he walked through Traverse Town, looking for the Key the King had been talking about, he was pissed.

He showed his crossness in his posture. He stomped his feet when he walked, arms folded in front of his chest, his beak drawn out in the best pouting face one could make with a beak. "Where's that key?" he asked Goofy, not exactly expecting an intelligible response. It wasn't like Goofy was going to say, "Oh, the key is over there!" and that would be that.

Goofy stared over at him, a look of concern and sadness plastered on his face. If only there was a way to cheer Donald up. Well, that would be practically impossible, seeing how Donald was a major pessimist. He turned back to look around the part of Traverse Town the locals called "the First District," seeing if he could find anything that looked remotely like a key, when a glint of light coming from the sky, caught his eye. Glancing up, trying to find the light source, his eye was met almost instantly by a particularly bright star that was slowly fading into the blackness surrounding it.

Goofy pointed up to the sky. Donald followed his finger, and, once he saw what Goofy was pointing at, he uttered "wow…" quietly. "Look, a star's goin' out!" Goofy said, his voice almost a panicked tone.

Once it had completely faded, Goofy and Donald turned to face each other. "We'd better hurry and find that Key quick!" Goofy said, the panicked tone still remaining. Donald nodded his approval, while the King's dog Pluto disappeared around a corner. Goofy watched him questioningly. Pluto had been taught to sniff out either the King or something that might be relevant to the situation at hand. Pluto was a very, very intelligent dog. Goofy turned back to Donald, and said, "Uh, ya know, I betcha that…"

"Aw, what do you know, ya big palooka?" Donald retorted coldly. He didn't mean to sound impolite, but he knew where he was going, and Goofy was usually wrong. Donald was not in the mood to put up with Goofy leading them on a wild goose chase.

Goofy turned back to the dog, deep in thought. "What do I know?" he asked himself. Shaking it off, he called to the dog, "C'mon, Pluto!" Pluto did not respond, though Goofy knew that, sooner or later, the dog would catch up. So, he followed Donald behind a shop, and out to find this "key."

Back in the hotel, things had been quiet for a while. Everyone had run out of things to say, so silence was currently draped over the room like a blanket on a sleeping child. Finally, Yuffie spoke up, shattering the hush.

"Hey, have you heard of Ansem?" Sora and Riku thought to themselves for a moment, before shaking their heads to signal that they had not heard of the person.

"Well, you're probably wondering where we found out all of this information about the Heartless and such. That came from studies done by a very wise scholar named Ansem. The Heartless were invading his home slowly, so he ran tests on them, finding out pretty much everything we know now, and maybe more. He stored all of the information in a report he called the Ansem's Report."

Riku thought sarcastically, _clever name_. Meanwhile, Sora was preoccupied with the anger that generated from the thought that everyone seemed to know more about these things than Sora, Riku and the rest of the Destiny Islands had. So, why were they left out of the loop? Were they just not cool enough to know about the Heartless? Did they not get the memo that was sent around informing them? He shook it off and realized that he wanted to know more about these mysterious beings of darkness. So, he asked Yuffie naively, "Um…can we see it?"

Everyone in the room laughed while the two boys sat on the bed, bemused about what was so hilarious. Eventually, the room's demeanor grew more serious, as Leon continued. "Ansem's world, Hollow Bastion, was destroyed, just like yours. Nobody knows what happened to him, most assume he died in the catastrophe, and with him, his report. Though some say that his report was scattered to the winds on the night of the fatal attack on Hollow Bastion."

"So…keep your eyes peeled!" Yuffie said with a smile. She sat for a wihle, thinking to herself. Riku got up and meandered around the room, studying their current location in greater detail.

Finally, Yuffie looked up at Sora, her eyes bright with enlightenment. "Oh, I know what it was I was supposed to tell you!" Riku turned to face her, curious as to what it was she wanted to say. "Did y7ou know that your Keyblades can open all sorts of locks? Try it next time you see one!" With that, the room grew silent again, but not for long.

"Leon!" Aerith gasped. Everyone turned to face her. She looked like she had seen an undead spirit. Her face was a pale white- paler than usual, anyways. Her eyes flashed with fear. One hand was covering her open mouth, most likely to stifle a scream, while the other was extended, her index finger pointing to a corner of the room. Glancing over to see what she was pointing at, everyone gasped, while Cid let out a quieted "Hoo, shit."

Strands of darkness danced around the corner. They were pitch black, and as they spun against each other, like a tango, there were more and more strands. Some were black. Others were purple. Some were even orange. Finally, materializing out of nowhere, there stood a creature. He (he? She? It?) wore a ragged shirt with an awkward-looking heart in the center. Its helmet was open, revealing a pitch-black head with two bright yellow, sun-like eyes, which peered out malevolently.

As if they had been expecting this, everyone set into motion. Aerith took Yuffie and ran out into the hall. Cid ran to the wall, picked up Sora and Riku's Keyblades, and tossed them at the two boys, muttering "catch." Riku obeyed, and stood up and extended his arm, weapon pointed at the creature as if singling it out, as if to say, "YOU must die." Sora caught his Keyblade and stood, though he did not look nearly as dangerous as the other three. Sora wondered how everyone else, especially Riku, could remain calm in what was apparently a time of crisis.

"Follow me," Leon growled, his voice low. Without warning, he ran towards the bay windows and jumped out them, leaving a rather large hole in the windows. The other three strode over to look out the window. It was nearly a twenty foot drop to the ground below. _Oh my…_ Cid jumped, too, closely followed by Riku. The three looked up at Sora expectantly. Sora's eyes grew wide, and he backed away, slowly shaking his head.

"Oh, no. No way I'm jumping that…" Sora said, his voice shaking. Little known fact: Sora Kawaii was deathly afraid of heights.

"You don't need to worry. I'll catch you." Leon called.

"No." Sora said defiantly.

Cid shoved Leon out of the way. "I got ya."

"No way." Sora wasn't making this easy.

Riku shoved Cid out of the way. "Sora, you wimp! Here, I'LL catch you."

Sora practically flew out the window, coming to land rather awkwardly in Riku's arms, bridal style. Leon smiled warmly, while Cid shook, obviously suppressing a laugh.

"Come on." Leon said. He turned to walk out of the Alleyway they were currently in, when he ran into something. Something…blacker than the darkest midnight.

He stumbled backwards, confused. Studying the object, he discovered what it was- a Shadow. And behind it stood another Shadow. And another. And another. One right after the other. They were completely surrounded by Shadows. Sora and Riku wielded their Keyblades, Leon raised his Gunblade to his shoulder. Cid summoned a large spear. They stood, Cid and Leon facing one side, Riku and Sora facing the other, backs to the other pair.

"Will you guys be OK on your own?" Leon asked quietly.

"Yeah. I'm sure I can cover for Sora's lack of experience." Riku turned his head slightly to beam at the other boy.

Sora glared daggers. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Riku smiled, satisfied that he had gotten Sora's "I'm-trying-to-glare-but-it's-failing-so-now-I-just-look-cute" face.

"What the hell are these things anyways?" Sora squeaked, as one stepped towards him threateningly.

Cid barked out a laugh. "I like this kid already. These 'r the Heartless. Better watch out. They'll kill ya!"

One ran towards him. Brandishing his Keyblade awkwardly, he struck it. It disintegrated on contact, which Sora assumed meant he won. "Ha, easy as pie."

"Eyes on the other enemies, hotshot. One down, I assume about sixty to go." Sora groaned.

As if this was the cue, all of the Heartless launched themselves at the four. Sora, with some newfound skill, fended them off just as well as the other three, which surprised all of them, including Sora. He was scared out of his mind, and he assumed this fear produced strength.

After about thirty seconds, all of them had disappeared into nothing. Cid and Leon ran off to go investigate other parts, while Riku and Sora stayed behind as both of them caught their breath.

"Damn…" breathed Riku. "Those things…can really…fight…"

"Yeah…" Sora agreed, feeling a metallic feeling where his lungs should have been. "I…need…a moment…"

"Okay…" Riku said, looking as if he was about to pass out, "but only…for your…sake…"

After a while, the two got rolling again. Soon enough, both of them had gotten the hang of it. They had left the Alleyway, and roamed into a large district which would have been the perfect city center, except for the fact that it was overrun by Heartless. Shops selling this and that which looked like they were once really well-decorated lay in total ruin. It really looked like a twister had grazed through this place. Wave after wave of Heartless attacked the two of them relentlessly, which they fought off skillfully.

They walked up to a building that was kitty-corner from the Hotel in this District. A huge neon sign glowed, with one of the lights flickering out. It read, "Gizmo Shop." Looking in the window, Sora examined the place. It was a friendly-looking place. Vibrant colors were painted everywhere, mixing purple and yellow, making the interior almost look…cute. Sora turned to Riku, and grinned. "Looks safe in there!" Riku nodded. With that, they proceeded in.

Boy, was Sora wrong.

Twenty minutes later, Sora fell over from exhaustion. Wave after wave of Heartless had been appearing in this building, and he just couldn't take it anymore. He tasted blood in the back of his throat. His shirt was lightly dabbled with blood, though it felt like he should have been bleeding a lot more. The dark Shadows surrounded him, moving in slowly for the kill.

Riku, not in much better shape then Sora, still rushed over to help his best friend/crush. Wrapping his arms around the fragile boy, he held him, protecting him from the darkness. "I've got you…Sora." He whispered in the boy's ear.

Sora had butterflies flying around in his stomach. "Remind me to be injured by darkness more often."

"What?"

_Shit. He said that out loud, didn't he?_ Sora blushed slightly, as he said, "Nothing."

Riku smirked. He had heard that very clearly. Maybe he should tell Sora…_nah. Might as well wait for a sure sign from him. Better safe then sorry, right?_

Riku reluctantly rose from sheltering the boy. He rapidly destroyed every Heartless in the room, and those that materialized after them. Once they seemed to have vanished, he returned to Sora, and took him in his arms bridal-style. Sora blushed slightly at the thought of how close Riku's left hand was from his rear end. Sora looked up at Riku. As their eyes met, he suddenly felt how pleased he was to have a guy like Riku guarding him, as if he was something special. Sora cocked his head to the side as he thought of all the times Riku had spent on the Islands. The two of them…and Kairi. He had nearly forgotten about her. She just seemed…less important these days. Maybe it was the fact that he and Riku didn't live on the islands anymore. Oh well. No matter. He would run into her eventually. For now, he had Riku. Caring, loving, gorgeous Riku. _Wait…where did THAT come from? _

"Feeling better?" a voice called him back from his stream of consciousness.

Sora glanced up at Riku. He had been so lost in his eyes, he hadn't noticed Riku curing all of his pains. Sora grinned thankfully. "Thank you, Riku-kun." He cooed.

Riku's right eyebrow shot up to hide behind his bangs. "Y-you're welcome…Sora-san."

Sora flushed furiously. Had he just called Riku by a pet name? _Gotta watch what I say…_he thought, mentally scolding himself.

Eventually, they continued on, tearing through the Second District, and entering the Third District. This was a beautiful one, very quiet and unoccupied. There was a house just to the left of Sora and Riku when they entered, but it appeared to be abandoned. There was a flight of stairs leading down to the square below them. It was covered in purple tiles. A golden statue of two dogs eating what appeared to be spaghetti stood in the corner next to a miniature water fountain. A ledge stood high above them, which was vacant…for the moment. Sora and Riku ran into the center of the square. No Heartless showed up-definitely strange. As Sora and Riku glanced around, they breathed a sigh of relief. _Excellent…no more fighting_ Sora thought.

Donald and Goofy entered what was apparently the Third District, only to be greeted by a considerably unwelcoming welcoming committee-three Soldier Heartless. Goofy timidly hid behind his shield, which effectively covered his chest, and nothing more. "Gawrsh…are THESE the Heartless guys?" he asked Donald, his voice slightly quivering.

Donald confidently stepped towards them, wand drawn. "Let's go, Goofy!" he screamed.

Ten seconds later, a small explosion occurred on the ledge. Donald and Goofy were sent soaring off of it. They noticed two figures standing in the middle, and, unfortunately, they were headed straight for a crash course with them. The two boys spotted them, and, try as they might to get away, they ended up crushed, the boy with spiky hair was crushed by Donald, while the boy with long, silvery hair was crushed by Goofy. The four of them were reeling from the impact, but when Donald and Goofy came around, they noticed two key-shaped blades in their hands.

"The key…s?" They weren't told there were multiple "keys to their survival." However, this concern took a backseat as the ground started rumbling irritably. They all looked up, glancing around and wondering what was going on.

Suddenly, blocks of the ground were raised, forming impassible pillars, effectively acting as a barricade and not letting them escape. Heartless started to appear around the pillars. The four of them got up, and drew their weapons. Running off to separate corners, they fought Soldier after Soldier after Soldier. Finally, when they were all gone, Donald and Sora let a relieved sigh, while Goofy and Riku remained neutral.

Their ears perked as they heard a faint whistling. It grew louder with each passing second. Something was drawing near.

WHAM! A pair of giant, purple, metallic legs landed about twenty yards away. They were soon topped with arms, a head, and a humongous body, which bore a gothic symbol of a black heart broken into four pieces.

"A Heartless…" Riku breathed.

Without any extra thought, the four of them drew their weapons once again, and waged war on the creature. The robotic-looking Heartless sure could fight. When taking too much damage, it separated into different parts. The two arms would break off and swing around in a circular motion, swiping its victim with its claws. The head would be between the boots, which somehow held it in place. The head would loop around the boots, causing massive damage to whomever it hit. The body would fire a laser at one of the fighters. The odd thing was, its health could be absorbed. Whenever a body part of its was defeated, it would burst into a flurry of small green balls. Whenever Sora or anyone else picked it up, they felt a little bit better, one of their wounds healed automatically. Some of the more powerful balls healed two wounds.

Twenty minutes or so later, the monster was gone, and the four of them stood in the center of the square, catching their breath. Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, and Cid stood off to the side. They had heard a commotion in the Third District, and had come to help them halfway through the battle.

Riku straightened up, soon to be followed by Goofy, then Sora, then Donald. "So…who are you guys?" he asked, not to sound patronizing or rude, but he had to know who he had just been fighting alongside.

The feathery duck straightened up. "I'm Donald Duck!" he boasted, puffing his chest out, as if trying to look macho. Which was extremely hard, considering he was a duck.

"I'm Goofy," the tall dog announced nonchalantly.

"I'm Riku," the silver-haired teen said politely. All three turned to Sora expectedly, who was staring at Donald, a grin growing on his face. Finally, the five-year-old inside of him burst into laughter, running forward and pulling Donald into a tight embrace, shouting "DUCKYYY!!!" Riku nearly died from laughter. Goofy laughed just as hard as Riku, if not harder. Donald frantically squirmed, shouting "Get offa me! Get offa meee!" Sora obeyed, blushing furiously.

"I see you've met Sora." Riku said, chuckling. Sora shot him a look that screamed, "Just you wait, I'm going to kill you in your sleep!" Riku laughed harder.

"Um, yeah…" Donald quacked uncomfortably. He quickly changed the subject. "We need you two to come along with us!"

Riku raised a questioning eyebrow. "Eh?" He asked.

"Yeah," Goofy picked up. "We need you to protect our world. See, our King tol…" Goofy suddenly found himself being shushed by Donald. Goofy leaned down, and asked, "What, Donald?"

"We can't tell them about the affairs of the outside worlds, including ours, remember?" he hissed.

"Oh, right!" Goofy whispered. "That would mean they were muh-mud-meh…"

"Meddling!" Donald squawked angrily.

"Right." Goofy said. He then turned back to them, and guffawed. "Well, fellahs, long story short, we need ya to come with us."

"Wait a minute!" Donald yelled. Everyone turned to face him. "Our Gummi Ship only fits three. Any more, and it's balance will be thrown off. Sorry, but one of you has to go his separate way."

Sora looked at Riku. Riku looked back. Both were thinking the same thing, _No way am I giving up my time with him._ They simultaneously turned back to Donald and Goofy and said, "No."

Donald crossed his arms and tapped his toe impatiently. "Why not?" he half-asked, half-screamed.

"We're best friends." Sora explained patiently. "I already lost a good friend of mine. I'm not about to lose my other friend.

Donald growled crossly, but Goofy seemed to understand. He leaned down and whispered to Donald. "Ya know, the King would prob'ly be OK with us just meeting them in different worlds!"

Donald considered this, and reluctantly agreed. Turning back to the two, he said irately, "All right. We'll leave you two alone. Maybe we'll see you in the future." As he said this, he half-glared at the two. After all, he didn't leave home just to be turned down by these boys. Oh well. They had found the Keys. Mission accomplished, right?

"Goofy," he said, turning to the tall dog, "let's go."

Goofy nodded. With that, the two walked to the giant doors leading to the First District. Riku was overjoyed. Now he could have Sora all to himself without some awkward-looking duck and dog getting in the way of their romance. He turned to Leon, who was pseudo-scowling at Riku and Sora.

"And how do you propose to leave?" Leon asked.

"Um…well…" Riku said. Crap, he hadn't really thought this out. He looked over at Sora for help, who seemed just as flustered as he did. He reluctantly turned around, and shrugged at Leon, who sighed exasperatedly in return.

"How 'bout I build you a Gummi Ship?" Cid piped up. Everyone's faces lit up at the idea.

Riku remained rightfully skeptical. "How long would it take you to build it?" he scrutinized.

Cid shrugged. "Four months-ish. Why?"

The rest of the group groaned. "Cid…" Leon said, trying to keep his tone of voice gentle, "we don't have that long."

"Oh…" Cid said, revelation dawning on his face. He growled a curse word, before proclaiming, "I'm outta ideas! What the hell are y'all doin' starin' at me? What are ya, a buncha qu…" Glancing at Riku and Sora, he bit his lip, and shut up. Riku glared daggers at him, while Sora remained blissfully unaware of what was going on.

Riku closed his eyes, and took a breath. _Great…I'm trapped here. At least I'm with Sora. But, God, we have to fix this problem, and it seems like we're the only ones who can. Gaah! I wish there was an easy way out!_

Riku felt something whoosh behind him and Sora. Leon, Aerith, and the others gasped while Sora and he turned around to see what it was.

It was a portal. Inside, it looked like an extremely dark flower. It was black on the edges, but inside, it was a dark purple. Quite beautiful, really. Riku gaped at it. _Did…I create that?_ Everyone else was staring at him in shock. Apparently, he did.

"A dark portal…" Yuffie said, awe-struck.

"Hey!" Aerith spoke up, finally. "You could use the darkness to travel from place to place!"

Leon cocked his head to the side. "You sure that's a good idea, Aerith?"

Aerith smiled and nodded. "Yes, as long as they have each other, I don't believe the darkness can penetrate their hearts."

Leon smiled and nodded his agreement. Yuffie let out an adoring "aww…" and Cid chuckled, and said gruffly, "how…cute."

Yuffie was next to speak. "Well, you guys better hurry up, before that portal disappears!"

They all said their goodbyes. Leon waved serenely, Cid flicked his cigarette and yelled " Y'all be careful now, y'hear?" Aerith smiled, and waved and shouted, "Goodbye." Yuffie excitedly jumped up and down, shouting, "don't forget to write!"

And with that, the two boys dove into the portal, wondering where the hell they were destined to go next.


	4. Chapter 4: Collision of Worlds

Kingdom Hearts: Altered Promises

Chapter 4: Collision of Worlds

The next few days for Sora were relentlessly long, yet oh so rewarding. For starters, he got to spend time with Riku. That in itself would have made the days great.

Added on to that, however, was the fact that most of the time, they were completely alone. When they had cleared the Heartless out of an area, they would often find a place to sit down and just…talk. When they had lived on the Destiny Islands, they had never really gotten a chance to learn about ach other's wants, fears, favorite things, et cetera.

Evidently, they had a lot in common. They both wanted to be strong (and, of course, both boys held in the good old "I want YOU!") They both feared being "different," and the consequences that would come from that. The number one thing in both their lives was friendship, inarguably. Of course, both of them were referring to one friend in particular…

Sora was starting to like Riku more and more as their adventure wore on. He enjoyed their talks, they were always the highlight of his day. His desire to be by Riku's side until the end expanded so it was much more prominent in his mind. He…well, there was no other way to describe it- he loved the boy. Sora loved Riku like a brother. Well, not a brother. More like a…

In any case, Sora couldn't tell Riku. As stated before, Sora was afraid of the consequences resulting from being "different," namely, losing Riku as a friend. If Riku found out Sora liked him, Riku would probably think Sora was a creep who just wanted in his pants, which wasn't true. Okay…maybe it was true. Point is, Sora couldn't tell him. He could just hope that Riku loved him and was willing to make the first move.

Ah, who was he kidding? That wasn't about to happen. Not in a million years.

Riku awoke to the sound of silence. And breathing. He felt something heavy on his chest. Peering down his body, he saw a certain favorite spiky-haired boy lying across his chest, calmly dozing and dreaming of better days. Then again, these days were pretty damn good. As the two of them lay there, traveling through the portals of darkness, Riku lay his head back, and thought dreamily of the past couple of days.

They dove into the portal of darkness, waving goodbye to Leon and the rest of them, leaving Traverse Town. He breathed a sigh. _Great, _he then thought. _Now where am I going?_ Honestly, he didn't really care. After all, to sum up what Aerith had said, as long as he and Sora were together, the darkness could not overcome them.

Riku glanced down at Sora. The boy was already asleep. When he was sleeping, his name was fulfilled. In other words, Sora Kawaii looked so…_kawaii_ snoozing. His eyes were closed (duh), a small, quieted frown upon his face, growing and shrinking in accompaniment with the light snoring sounds he made.

Riku smiled softly. _Oh Sora, _he thought, _If only you felt the same as I do…_he thought, his eyes filling with sadness. He ruffled the young man's spiky hair affectionately. Brief thoughts rushed through his mind…

_Sora…pinned up against a wall_

_Riku…leaving a trail of kisses down his neck to his…_

_Sora…crying out Riku's name as Riku took in his…_

_Riku…moaning at the feeling he got from his mouth making contact with Sora's…_

Riku jerked his hand off the boy's head. _My God…I am officially perverted. _Interesting thoughts continued to parade through his mind. This time, though, they were more questioning than sexual.

_What the hell was that?_

_Come on, Riku, pay attention! Do you know how bad you would have felt if, while you were daydreaming, Sora became swallowed in the darkness?_

_Wait…if I had sex with Sora when he was swallowed in darkness, would that be necrophilia? (Sex with a dead person)_

Riku shook his head in an attempt to dispel his mind from any further thoughts. He seriously considered molesting Sora. Who could blame him, though? With that adorable frown, his lower lip drawn out into a slight pout, who could resist? Instead, Riku tilted the boy's chin up with his hand. Planting a chaste kiss on the boy's lips, Riku drifted off to sleep.

(A/N: In order to keep you all interested, I won't give the play-by-play of every little event in Kingdom Hearts. That would take forever, and you would probably get bored after a while. So, I will skim over the unchanged parts, and get to where things had changed. Which will, most likely, be in every world.)

Riku and Sora arrived in a beautiful-looking forest. Trees with bright green leaves and deep mahogany trunks and branches surrounded them. It was daytime, and the sunlight reflecting off the moss on the rocks and trees was nothing short of breathtaking. The grass rose all around them, ending at a giant rabbit hole the two currently sat on. _Wait a minute…_

As if it was waiting for that cue, gravity took it's effect, pulling the two down. They fell down a seemingly endless hole. Riku was looking down, trying to find the ground, while Sora merely laid back tranquilly. Riku liked the fact that he could do that. So care-free, so wonderful, so…

Painful.

At least, it would be as the ground came near. Riku tried to grab him, but Sora was just out of reach. Sora briefly opened one of his closed eyes, looking at Riku, then looking at where he was frantically motioning towards: the ground. Sora tried to react, but it was too late. While Riku landed gracefully on his feet, Sora flopped down clumsily. Riku chuckled as he strode over to Sora, picking him up and hugging him. "Smooth move, Sora."

"Hey!" he shouted defensively, but then giggled.

Riku smiled warmly. "Come on." Riku took Sora's hand, and led him in to this new world through a bunch of open doors, one right after the other.

Eventually, they found themselves in a rather pretty garden. Large hedges sprouted out of the ground, and they were cut so they were in perfect rectangular shapes. A giant pedestal stood at the front of the room, with an equally large pedestal to its right with a flight of stairs leading up it. In the middle, there was a small stand, where a girl about Riku and Sora's ages with blonde hair and blue eyes in a blue and white dress stood, obviously on trial.

A plump lady in an interesting outfit was seated in the tall pedestal, while a furry white rabbit in a red shirt scurried up the flight of stairs to the other tall pedestal. He took a few deep breaths, and blew fanfare into the horn. "Court is now in session!" he shouted.

The girl looked up at the rabbit, and asked, shocked, "I'm on trial? But why?"

The rabbit seemed to ignore her question. _How polite,_ Riku thought, already horrified by how this trial was going. The person on trial shouldn't need to ask why they're on trial the day OF said trial. And then, to be ignored? The rabbit shouted hoarsely, "Her Majesty, the Queen of Hearts, presiding."

All eyes turned towards the plump lady. She was sitting still, eyes closed, as if trying hard to recall something. Suddenly, her eyes flew open, and she studied the girl in front of her. "This girl is the culprit," she snarled, "there's no doubt about it. And the reason is…because I says so!" She screamed the last part.

"That is so unfair!" the girl pleaded, pulling off a slight pout.

The Queen looked completely disinterested. "Well, haven't you ANYTHING to say in your defense?"

"Of course!" the girl puffed her chest up, "I have done absolutely nothing wrong. You may be Queen, but I'm afraid that doesn't give you the right to be so…so mean!"

The rabbit covered his mouth to stifle a gasp, while the Queen banged her fists on the pedestal she sat on. "Silence! You dare defy me?"

Meanwhile, Sora and Riku were thinking along the same lines, thinking, _we should really do something._ However, fear of being restrained by the other kept them from doing so. Instead, they just stood motionless, watching the scene unfold.

"The court finds the defendant…GUILTY AS CHARGED!" the Queen bellowed. "For the crimes of assault and attempted theft of my heart. Off with her head!" She pointed menacingly to the girl. Sora gasped and ran forward, while Riku thought about it for a second, but ended up following Sora.

"No no! Oh please!" the girl pleaded.

"Hold it right there!" Sora called out.

"Who are you?" the Queen asked, then she corrected herself by asking an angrier question. "How dare you interfere with my court?"

Sora gulped slightly. This lady sure could be intimidating. "Excuse me, but we know who the real culprit is. It's the Heart…" Sora turned to face Riku, and met his gaze. Riku had the most pretty eyes. They were a peaceful ocean blue. They reminded him of the beauty of the waves back home, when it was bright and sunny out. Sora smiled serenely, remembering all those fun days on that island of Riku's. Riku lifted an eyebrow, and waved, snapping Sora out of his trance. "Anyways, she's not the one you're looking for."

"That's nonsense!" the Queen yelled. "Have you any proof?"

"Uh…" Sora said. He really hadn't thought this through very well.

So, they locked Alice in a golden cage, and told Sora and Riku to go collect evidence of Alice's innocence. "Fail, and it's off with all of your heads!" the Queen bellowed threateningly.

Sora and Riku rolled their eyes simultaneously. Sora walked up to Alice's cage, Riku following close behind.

Alice saw them coming, looked at Sora, and giggled girlishly. "Hello," she said, in a funny tone.

Sora obviously took no notice of it. "Hi," he returned. Sora didn't catch on to many things.

"What's your name, stranger?" Now Riku could tell-she was flirting. Riku turned a little red, and tried to remain emotionless, but was failing.

"I'm Sora." God, Sora was naïve.

"Sora, that's a sexy name." She put a great emphasis on the word, "sexy." Now that she was being blunt with Sora, he was turning a light red. "I'm Alice. VERY nice to meet you."

She winked. Now Sora was very red in the face, while Riku was glaring daggers.

Alice didn't notice. "So, maybe when we get out of here, you can put me in a cage. Or at least…chain me up. I'll be your personal slave…"

"Erm…" Sora squirmed. Alice finally caught Riku's gaze. Revelation showing in her eyes, she let out a slow, "ohh…you don't swing that way?"

Sora raised an eyebrow. He obviously had never heard this term used before. "Sure…" he said in a non-committed tone. Riku internally sighed, exasperated. _Not going to make it easy for me to figure out your sexuality, eh, Sora?_ Nevertheless, Riku was relieved this Alice decided to back off of flirting with Sora. If Sora was destined to be with women, Riku wanted to find this out for himself. It would break his heart to see Sora run off with a female and leave him in the dust.

He wanted nothing more than to make Sora his.

They hadn't ended up freeing Alice. Instead, they locked some keyhole-shaped thing, and received an odd-looking object. It was a simple black sphere, though it had shades of purple and white thrown into it. When Riku held it, he felt a sense of power, but at the same time, he felt a stabbing pain coming from his chest. Sora had to carry it around. Riku found it odd…it's just a dark sphere. What's so bad about it?

Anyways, Riku then opened up another one of those mysterious portals, and the two boys dove into it once again. They emerged at what appeared to be some place they had learned about in history class back on Destiny Islands…Greece, or something. It was sandy, and there were pillars everywhere. Two mammoth-sized statues stood facing the doorway on opposite sides, mirror images of each other. A colossal coliseum stood in front of them. It was really quite a sight.

Riku and Sora entered the Coliseum, astounded at the size of the building. They were even more amazed when they laid eyes upon a very small half-horse, half-human looking animal with its back to them that commanded them, in a lazy, almost New York accent, to go move a block that weighed about a ton. When they tried to tell him that it was too heavy, the animal realized it was talking to the wrong person. Then, he went on to briefly describe a set of games that sounded an awful lot like that one thing from Greece…uh, the O-limp-ecs or something. Riku wasn't sure. He failed that class.

Sora was eager to compete in the games, and so was Riku. First, they had to prove themselves in the preliminaries. To get there, they had to pass a challenge with a bunch of barrels set up, and knocking them all down in one minute or less. Even though they creamed the old record on both courses, this animal whose name was Phil (which was ironic considering he was such an incredible creature, and then he has a mundane name like Phil) told them no. His reason was "two words. You guys-ain't-heroes!"

Sora pouted, and seeing Sora's cute pouty face was enough to force Riku to go search for one. He didn't have to search far, some guy named Hades-Lord of the Dead came up and gave him a free Entry Pass into the games. Riku took it, thanked him, and ran back inside.

The look on Sora's face was downright adorable when Riku showed him the ticket and explained what it did. He hugged Riku tightly, out of joy, chanting, "we're going to the games! We're going to the games!"

"In your dreams, kid." Phil scoffed.

Sora turned around and gave him a look, before showing him the entry pass. "Where did you get this?" Phil asked, shocked.

Riku merely grinned cheekily, and asked, "Can we go in now?"

Phil raised an eyebrow, before answering a reluctant, "all right…"

Sora let out a giant "Whoo-hoo!" He then turned to Riku, and said, "we are going to kick some serious butt!"

Riku grinned. Sora was very…innocent. So innocent, in fact, that he couldn't stand to say the word, "ass" out loud.

It turns out, they didn't kick some serious ass. They were doing fine until the final round of the preliminaries. The previous rounds had been standard Heartless battles, nothing too bad. However, the last round consisted of just one man. His name was Cloud. He had blonde hair put up partially in spikes, so bangs drooped over his right eye, which was a lighter blue than even Riku's. He was dressed in a black undershirt which was partially covered by a maroon cape which was frayed at the edges. He wore midnight blue pants, which were complicated by straps crossing it in a seemingly random pattern. He had brown leather shoes and gloves. A solitary bony wing sprouted from his back, which Riku could only guess was fake, though Cloud could fly. Though Cloud's demeanor seemed cold and apathetic, there was some negative emotion other than fury, a sadness, a pain one could only see if they looked into his eyes, and really concentrated.

Riku and Sora were on their hands and knees, thoroughly exhausted, pains emitting from various places where this Cloud had slashed them with his oversized sword. The thing was almost as big as Cloud himself was. For some reason, it was wrapped in bandages. Riku snorted. _What, did his big sword get a paper cut?_

This man named Cloud strode over to them, as calm and collected as ever, and lifted his sword, about to behead them.

"Wait!" Sora pleaded. "You shouldn't kill us!"

Cloud paused. "I'm listening. Why shouldn't I kill you?"

"Be-be…" Sora's breath finally caught up with him. "Because we are Keyblade masters! Both of us."

"Kid, I don't care. I was just hired to do this." Cloud's brow furrowed, as he lifted his sword once again, about to decapitate them.

Riku was forced to think. Think hard. Cloud. He had heard that name somewhere. But…where?

_"I'm Cloud," he stuck his hand out politely._

_Cloud studied him curiously._

_Cloud laughed appreciatively._

"I know where Leon is!" Riku blurted out. Sora looked over at him as if to say, _What? We're about to get killed, and you're thinking of Leon?!"_

Cloud cocked his head to the side curiously. "Do I know a Leon?"

Riku remembered the story, and how Leon had changed his name from Squall _after _his town had been destroyed, which was _after _he had met Cloud. "Erm…I mean Squall."

Cloud dropped his sword. "Squall Leonhart?" he gasped, completely astonished.

Riku nodded, blood dripping out of his mouth.

Cloud ran up and tightly embraced both him and Sora. Sora looked at Riku behind Cloud's back, and mouthed the words _"What the crap?" _Riku merely shrugged in response, and began to hug back. With Cloud being all collected, almost to the point of coming off as being emo, it's was incredibly out of character for him to actually be hugging Riku and Sora. Sora wrapped his slender arms around Cloud, and shouted cheerfully, "Group hug!" Riku and Sora's hands linked together behind Cloud's back. Cloud grinned as tears of delight fell down his face.

"I take it you two are a couple?"

Riku and Sora thought about this for a second, puzzled about what he meant. They looked down at their hands and, at the same time, let go, both boys blushing furiously.

Cloud laughed and let go of them. "So, will you take me to Squall?"

"He goes by Leon now," Riku gently corrected, "and yes. We would love to."

Cloud did something nobody thought he was capable of doing, let alone would allow himself to do.

He squealed.

In public.

Yeah, they would have to remember to get him to Leon. There would be love! Romance! And, of course, more girlish squealing from Cloud.

After that, Hades had come, and things had gotten a little more interesting. Apparently, Cloud had been hired to kill not only Sora and Riku, but Hercules, the apparent hero of this world, and in exchange, Hades would lead Cloud back to Leon. Hades, however, had been tricking him to get him to murder Hercules. But when Cloud stopped listening to Hades, Hades released a gigantic, three-headed dog called "Cerberus" on Riku, Sora, and Cloud. Cloud ended up getting knocked out, and just as Riku and Sora were giving way, Hercules busted onto the scene. Sora and Riku fled, prepared, and scampered back onto the battlefield, helping Hercules defeat Cerberus.

Once that was finished, they were dubbed "Junior Heroes" (much to Riku's dismay- they just saved Hercules' ass-what's so Junior about that?) Nonetheless, they said goodbye, and, with Sora AND Cloud clutching to him, Riku opened a portal, in an attempt to return to Traverse Town.

Unfortunately, this attempt miserably failed. They ended up in a treehouse. Outside the treehouse, there didn't seem to be too much proof of life, other than a small boat hanging by a rope for no apparent reason. Mammoth trees with bright green leaves stood tall all around them. As Cloud and Sora looked around, confused, Riku stood behind them, blushing.

"Oops! Heh, wrong place, apparently." He said, feeling smaller by the second. Sora raised an eyebrow questioningly, but merely shrugged. Cloud, meanwhile, looked as if he was about to explode from being so infuriated. Obviously, he was anxious to meet up with Leo…er…Squall again.

And now, they were on their way to, hopefully, Traverse Town. As Sora clutched to him, along with Cloud, he felt…just…happy. Happy to have Sora with him, happy about everything.


	5. Chapter 5: Relationships Shattered

Kingdom Hearts: Altered Promises

Hey! Guess who it is! No, it isn't Roxas, smartie. Don't get your hopes up like that. It's your favorite author (right? Makes cute, pouting face) Undying Lover.

A quick update on me. I'm sorry this took so long to post, but there have been a number of road blocks in the creation process. One, a record-shattering windstorm just hit my community, leaving us without power for a week and one day. Secondly, now there is no internet connection. Thirdly, with Christmas here and such, who wants to spend time updating on FanFiction? I do. But my dad completely ignored that and still dragged me over to the Eastern part of the state. Rawr. And, the grand finale, our dear friend, writer's block. (You: BOO! throws eggs at Writer's Block. Writer's Block: Don't hate me, please! It's mah job!)

I don't know if I'm going to do one of these for KH:COM and KH2. Honestly, I am not sure if there would be enough material for me to work with to do these, but still…it would be nice to. They would be called, in this order: Kingdom Hearts: Altered Memories and Kingdom Hearts: Altered Promises 2. I know, I know, clever names XP. If you have any suggestions for changes to the actual plot of either of these two games that I could work with, please message me.

Anyways, on with the usual, pointless introductions…

**Disclaimer**: No, I do not own Kingdom Hearts. Sure wish I did, though. There would be Yaoi. EVERYWHERE! And Kairi wouldn't exist :P.

**Warning:** Reading this story may give you cancer. Only kidding! Apologies in advance if I offended anyone with cancer. Anyways, the real warning is: this is a story that mirrors Kingdom Hearts in several ways, but also differs in several ways. One of the ways it differs is the fact that it is not really a SoraxKairi story as much as a SoraxRiku (and, now I can reveal: CloudxLeon.) If you don't like to hear of these things, leave. Now.

All right, you asked for it. On with the show!

Chapter 5: Reunions, Revelations, and Relationships Shattered

Riku got lucky this time. The dark portal he had conjured up led them directly to their destination- Traverse Town. The first thing Riku and Sora noticed was a certain hyper, raven-haired ninja walking around beside a giant mailbox with a tongue. _Not weird at all…_Riku thought. They dragged Cloud along to go see him. Turning around, she saw them coming towards her and grinned.

"Hey, guys! How are things?" she asked. Then, eyeing Cloud, her eyebrows disappeared into her hair. "Are you a friend of theirs?" Yuffie asked flirtatiously.

Riku, seeing that this wasn't going to go anywhere they liked, decided to cut to the chase. "Yuffie, this is Cloud. Cloud, Yuffie."

Yuffie furrowed her brow in thought, obviously remembering hearing something about some guy named Cloud once, but she didn't seem to recall. Then, her expression turned to a mixture of happiness and surprise. "OH! So YOU'RE Cloud…he he…" She muttered something to herself, something along the lines of, "Squall picked a good one," but luckily, Cloud didn't hear it.

Yuffie turned back to Sora and Riku. "You probably wanna know where Leon is, right?" Riku and Sora (and Cloud, him especially) nodded vigorously. "He's in the Third District, in the small, "abandoned" shack by the entrance to the Second District."

Sora's shoulders slumped tiredly, in complaint. Sora sure had an odd way of protesting. "You mean we chave to go all the way through the Second District AGAIN?!"

Yuffie nodded and said cheerily, "Yep!" Sora made a face between exhausted, disgusted, and downright pissed. Yuffie cackled. "Just kidding! Oh, you three should have seen your faces!" Apparently, Riku and Cloud had been having similar thoughts, and thus making similar faces, as Sora.

Riku shoved her lightly. "Evil bitch."

"Hey!" Yuffie shouted in mock-outrage. "Do I have to use my ninjitsu and kick some Keyblade-wielding…"

"ENOUGH!" Cloud roared. He was obviously getting impatient, and thus in no mood for playing around. Then again, after eight Squall-less years, who could blame him? Sora and Riku turned around, mouths agape, while Yuffie cocked her head to the side, fighting the urge to glare. "Jeeeez…" she complained, "restless, much?"

"Bingo." Cloud said bluntly, with an undertone of uncouthness to it. Sure, he sounds rude, but remember. Eight years. Squall-LESS.

"Okay," Yuffie said, finally getting to the point. "The third District is through that door." She pointed to an oversized door that was about twenty feet away. It was about as large as the Coliseum they had found Cloud in. It was made of a dark brown wood with light brown boards scattered on it, possibly to patch up holes in it. "But, the door's locked," she continued. "However if you use your Keyblades, you can probably unlock it. Those Keyblades are good for unlocking or locking any type of lock, and that one should be no different."

Riku nodded his understanding happily. "Thanks, Yuf," he called, as he reached out, pointing his Keyblade towards the large lock on the door. A light developed around the tip of it. Sora did the same, and the exact same reaction occurred. Simultaneously, a bluish-white laser shot out of both of their Keyblades, originating from a large orb of the same color, which currently encompassed the tip. Both lasers fired directly into the heart of the Keyhole. Both lasers disappeared as a small click was heard. The lock disintegrated, and Sora, Riku, and Cloud proceeded in, Yuffie joining them, eager to see the yaoi-filled reunion (she was a fangirl. No doubt about it.)

However, said reunion wasn't soon to happen, or so it would seem. As soon as the four of them entered the Third District, they were assaulted by those Heartless dessed as soldiers (_what did Leon call them?_ Riku thought, _Oh yeah. Soldiers. Duh_.) as well as some brown Heartless who could apparently fly. Riku and Sora groaned, but drew their Keyblades, ready to fight. Yuffie rolled her eyes, and took out a large, four-pointed star that looked like a giant ninja throwing star. It was called a shruiken.

Cloud, meanwhile, looked positively frightening. His upper lip was drawn in a sardonic half-sneer, half-snarl, all-menacing look. His eyes were ablaze with rage. One fist was clenched and shaking while the other fingered the handle of his trademarked outsized sword. "Not tonight, ladies," he growled. Without further warning, he sprinted forward, sword drawn. He ran in a pattern that corralled all of the Heartless into the corner with the golden statue of the two dogs chastely kissing. He raised his blade, and struck one of the Heartless. He slashed back up, doing the same thing again. And again. And again. And again. _6…7…8…_

_32…33…um…39? _Riku had officially lost count of how many slices Cloud had made by the time the final Heartless exploded into a pleasurable hail of money aptly titled "munny" and these little green balls of the Heartless' life force, which gave whoever took it in health (_what had Leon called it? Something like "HP" or "HD" or "TV"…_) He looked over at the other two. Sora was shielding his face, in slight horror, while Yuffie merely raised her eyebrows. Cid, who had just appeared, asked Cloud when he was done, "what in the hell was that?"

Cloud laughed, panting. "It's called Omni-slash."

Riku snorted. "You should call it 'Auto-death.'"

Cloud laughed, and then his eye was caught by the abandoned shack that Yuffie had described, though all the lights were on, and he could sense movement inside the shack. Cloud keenly looked at Yuffie, silently asking if that was his Squally's house. She giggled and nodded quickly.

Cloud threw his munny to the ground, and made an enthusiastic beeline for the house, Sora and Riku trailing right behind him, while Yuffie gathered the munny for… "safe keeping."

Meanwhile Leon (AKA Squall Leonhart, AKA Cloud's Squally) was sitting in the house with Aerith, marveling over a bowl of ice cream. "Man," he said through a mouthful of the stuff, "this Sea Salt stuff is really good, don't you…"

The door burst open without warning. Cloud came charging in, followed by Riku and Sora. A dreamy smile crossed Cloud's lips. "Squall-kun…" he whispered, studying the man in front of him.

Drop.

Crash.

Spilled ice cream everywhere.

"Cloud-san…" Leon said quietly, shocked by this unexpected turn of events. He walked forward slowly, quickening his stride when he saw the other do so. When they met in the center of the room, they embraced, and crushed their lips together, happy that they could be together again, to, for lack of a better phrase, savor each other's taste.

Aerith giggled and clasped her hands together in joy. Riku smiled warmly and put his arm around Sora. Sora smiled and put his arm around Riku's lower back, leaning into him. Yuffie, who had just appeared in the doorway, squealed, "Oh! So cute!" Cid, who was in the doorway with her, half-snorted, muttered, "what a Hollywood moment," then proceeded into the house, Yuffie glowering at his backside for ruining the moment.

Cid walked over to Sora and Riku and quietly whispered, "all joking aside, I actually do hate to break up the love-fest here, but I need a favor."

Riku glared at him for intruding on his and Sora's moment, before Sora smiled happily, and said quietly, so as to not disturb the couple who were now sprawled across the table, making out, "sure. What do you need?"

"Well," Cid began, "y'see this book?" he motioned towards the tattered book he held in his had. The cover was nearly torn off, but all of the pages were intact. It said, on the cover, "W…ie th…oh." Sora giggled. _Nice title._

As a moaned "Cloud…" was heard behind them and Yuffie and Aerith merely gaped at…SOMETHING that was happening, Cid continued, "Well, this old guy wanted me to deliver it to him, but I was wonderin' if you could."

"Okay!" Sora said. Riku resisted the urge to groan out loud.

"Atta boy!" Cid encouraged, slapping Sora roughly on the back, causing him to stumble forwards, dragging Riku with him. "Now, the old man's door is just to the left of us. As you exit and go down the stairs onto the main platform, you'll see a door. It'll have a giant fire symbol on it. All you have to do is cast "Fire" and it will open." Cid was referring to a magic spell Sora and Riku had learned upon departure from Traverse Town. They had learned it from a small notecard they had found lying on the ground, which had told them to center their thoughts and think of, as pyromaniac as this sounds, "the beauty of the flame." They had gotten very similar cards teaching them spell called "Ice" (courtesy of the Chesire Cat, a cat that talked in riddles and that could remove it's head that had helped them in Wonderland), "Thunder"(courtesy of Phil from the Olympus Coliseum), and "Cure" (found in that one treehouse they had accidentally landed in.)

With that, Riku and Sora were roughly shoved out of the house, with different goodbyes from different people. Yuffie waved frantically, shouting "don't forget to write!" Which was odd, considering they were only going to be gone about ten minutes, theoretically. Aerith smiled and tranquilly waved. Leon attempted to shout, "Bye, Sor-aaaaaaaah!" He, of course, was cut off by Cloud ferociously kissing his neck, attempting to create a third hickey. Cid just smiled, flicked his nose and said, "Don't you go forgettin' my directions now, y'hear?" With that, they set off to tey and find this door.

To Riku's surprise, there were no Heartless in the Third District. Perhaps their absence was caused by Cloud unleashing an attack like that on the poor guys. Omni-slash. Auto-death. Damn. Not that Riku minded. Hell, it was a break from fighting them.

They approached the door Cid had been talking about. It seemed to be made of cloth, though apparently, the Heartless had yet to penetrate it. It had a variety of other symbols on it, but the main one was a picture of flames.

Riku pointed his Keyblade at the door. Centering his thoughts, he attempted to think of the beauty of the flame. However, he could not keep his mind off of the spiky-haired teenage boy that currently stood beside him, watching him do all of this. After about a minute, Riku broke his focus and turned to Sora, a sheepish grin on his face and his cheeks practically glowing red. "I can't center my thoughts," Riku admitted, a hand worming its way to the back of his head.

Sora laughed at him. "Loser."

"Nyeh!" Riku stuck his tongue out at the boy.

Sora grinned seductively. I bet that's not the only thing your tongue is good for…" he whispered, winking at Riku, making his attempts at flirtation blatantly obvious.

Riku merely gaped at the boy for a moment. Then, he did the thing he thought was the only way to gain some composure back- return the flirting. "Yeah? You think so?" Riku returned in his most seductive voice, which strangely enough didn't hold a candle to the sex appeal of Sora's. Riku leaned in close, a sly grin growing on his face. "Wanna find out for sure?"

Sora laughed. "Maybe when we're NOT having our lives endangered, okay?" As Riku nodded, Sora centered his thoughts, and did what Riku couldn't a few seconds ago. The cloth lit on fire and disintegrated to reveal…another cloth of the same type. This one, however, could easily be moved by Sora. He pushed it aside, and they both proceeded in.

The house itself was interesting. It was a small one, smaller than the Third District shack which now contained all of their friends in Traverse Town. It had a mage's hat on the top of it, acting as a roof. The rest of the building was built of rickety-looking bricks, and it was a dull gray. The house itself was on a green island, which was surrounded by water. There was a path of five floating stones that seemed to be floating on it and moving from side to side. Apparently, whoever owned this house wasn't about to let them barge in.

Riku sighed, then, turning to Sora, said jadedly, "Come on." With that, he jumped onto the first stone. Then the second. He could hear Sora behind him, following his steps. He jumped to the third.

However, Sora had jumped a little early, obviously not paying attention to where Riku was in relation to himself. He leaped to the stone that Riku was currently on and, crashing into him, sent him toppling into the water. Riku emerged, laughing loudly at Sora's silliness. Sora laughed at himself, too.

When they were finished, Riku stared at Sora. He was really nothing short of beautiful. Even when wet, his spikes refused to surrender to gravity. The water droplets dripped down his face, somehow making his eyes illuminate. Riku only wished this boy could be called his. Not like Riku was going to tell Sora how he felt anytime soon.

Riku was about to swim back to the shore, and start all over again, when an idea struck him. He swam to the last rock before reaching the island, and reached up to it. Grasping onto the one part in the center that wasn't soaked, he crawled up until he was completely on it. Then, he turned around, and extended his hand to Sora, who was still swimming on the water. Sora grinned and took it. After five seconds of frantic pulling, Sora was dragged out of the water, crashing into Riku and this time sending them toppling onto the island.

Sora stood up and dusted himself off. He then accompanied Riku into the building.

The interior was much more dreary than the exterior. It was a duller gray, only because, for some reason, it was moist. There was a solitary window showing the outside world, but other than that and the door, there was no acknowledgement that there WAS anything out there besides this small abode. There was a stone slab in the center.

"There's something about this musty place," Riku began, forcing Sora to snap out of his scrutinizing of the room around him, and focus on the teen that accompanied him. He continued, slowly and calmly pacing the floors. "It reminds me of the Secret Place back home, where we used to scribble on the walls." Riku turned to him, smiling. Riku was referring to a place back on Destiny Islands called the Secret Place because it's entrance was veiled by leaves of palm trees. It was, indeed, a place that was very reminiscent of this. There were stones piled on top of other stones, forming walls and a ceiling. There was no proof that life had ever been there, except for a conspicuous door with no doorknob or keyhole in it which lay kitty-corner to the entrance. On the rocks that formed walls, there were always mindless drawings the kids would do of anything that was on their mind. It served, for the children, as a sanctuary, from not only the adults, but all of the rest of the world. Sora went there often. He had drawn many pictures, but one stood out prominently in his mind. It was of him sharing a paopu fruit with Kairi. After he had finished that drawing, he could have stopped, but he didn't. Instead, for some reason he still had yet to determine, he ended up drawing Riku very close behind Sora, nuzzling him affectionately. What this had meant, Sora still didn't know.

Sora stared at the boy, mouth slightly agape. He reached out to him. "Riku?"

Riku turned. "Hm?"

Sora shook his head. "Erm…nothing."

Riku cocked his head to the side. "What's on your mind, kiddo?"

Sora rubbed his neck embarrassingly, and said, "nothing. Really, nothing's on my mind."

Lucky for Sora, something happened to take Riku's mind off what Sora had just done. A voice called from the doorway, "ah. There you are. You have come sooner than expected." The two boys turned to face the source of this voice, and what they beheld earned the source… "interested" looks.

The man that stood in front of them was certainly old, just as Cid had said. Sora took a wild stab at his age, and came up with an answer of 97, give or take a few years. He had white hair, and a lengthy beard of the same color, which ended around his ankles. He had blue eyes, which glinted with wisdom. He wore a tall hat and flowing robes to match his eyes. The hat was oddly reminiscent of the giant hat that currently served as a roof over their heads, only this one had no stars on it.

Sora questioned him quickly. "Who are you? Why are you here? Were you expecting us? How did you know we were coming?"

Riku decided to be a little more paranoid than Sora. Keep in mind, this is a world filled with enemies. It's one thing to think everyone's out to get you. When it's true, however, it is a totally different matter. So, getting to the point, Riku drew his Keyblade and interrogated, "Are you a Heartless?"

The old man chuckled benevolently, while Sora shot his friend a glance, silently asking, _Riku! Where are your manners? _"No, no. Don't worry. I'm not after your heart." Both boys breathed a sigh of relief, as Riku dismissed his weapon, which vanished with a flash of light.

"Ah," the man said, looking around the room, "you know what this room needs? Furniture." With that, he set the bag that he held in his left hand down, opened it, and took out a short, stubby wand. He waved it around, much like a conductor conducting a symphony, and shouted, "Presto!" One by one, miniature furniture floated out of the bag and rhythmically danced their way to various places around the room, growing bigger with each passing second. There was a brilliant flash, and as the light subsided, Sora and Riku stood in a brightly lit room that was filled with furniture.

"Now then," the old man continued, "let's answer your previous questions. For starters, my name is Merlin the Wizard. Merlin for short. And I am here because…I live here, my boy. This is my home. I was merely away on a…trip." He suddenly got a dreamy look on his face, as he seemed to stop paying attention to the outside world all of a sudden.

Just as Sora was about to attempt to snap him back into reality, he shook his head, and continued on. "Now, yes, I was expecting you. You see, there was a pair that came barging into my home just as I was about to leave on this… "trip." One was short and feathery, while the other was a tall, awkward-looking…"

"Donald and Goofy!" Riku butted in, recognizing the pair as soon as Merlin had described Goofy as "awkward-looking."

Merlin cleared his throat irritably, obviously not enjoying being so rudely interrupted. "Yes, I-I do believe those were their names. In any case, they told me of you two, and I figured it was only a matter of time before you two showed up.

"Now then, I am a wizard, the most powerful wizard on this planet, and I can't say for sure, but I bet I am the best in the universe." He puffed up his chest conceitedly. Sora couldn't tell, but he seemed to be…what's the phrase? Oh yeah, full of himself.

The old man continued on, "Anyways, I, for the sake of the world, feel obligated to teach you a thing or two about magic. Now, what magic spells do you have?"

Riku reached into his back pocket, and dug around until he found what he was looking for- the cards that told them how to perform the spells they knew- Fire, Blizzard, Thunder, and Cure. Merlin perused the cards, and clicked his tongue in dismay. "My, you are less experienced than I imagined. We have a lot of work to do…"

"Hey!" Riku barked, obviously taking offense to this statement. "What exactly do you mean by that?"

It was then that Sora remembered the frayed book he held in his hand. "Um, excuse me," he began, "but is this your book?" He made a small motion with the hand he held the book in.

Merlin briefly perused it, before exclaiming, "Ah! Yes! That is mine. Thank goodness it's repaired!" Merlin rushed over to Sora and, slightly ravenously yanking it from his hands, set it on the nearby table. Sora looked at Merlin questioningly.

"What exactly IS that book?" Sora asked.

Merlin raised his eyebrows in disbelief. "I can't believe what I am hearing! Keyblade masters who have traveled the worlds, and yet you've never heard of…the storybook of _Winnie the Pooh_?"

Riku just stared, while Sora shook his head, and said, "No, I can't say I've heard too much about it. What is the story about?"

Merlin scoffed in incredulity. "What is the story about? My boy, it surely isn't for reading!" Merlin laughed, then, seeing Sora scrunch his nose up in confusion, he elaborated further. "This book is a rare oddity, for the author never truly wrote it. He merely wrote the character's traits, and, using magic, created them as real people, only they are trapped in this book. Don't think of this as a book, literally think of this as a whole new world!" Merlin leaned in close. "I know, 'books are another world' is just a scam to get you to read more, but this is actually true!"

The gang laughed. Once the laughter had subsided, Sora asked, "well, if that's a world, does that mean I can enter it?"

Merlin nodded happily. "Indeed. Why don't you give it a try?"

"Erm…" Sora said, backing away shyly.

Riku chuckled, then put his hand on the boy's back, and gave him light shove forwards, sending the boy stumbling forwards with a startled yelp. Sora turned his head, and glared at the boy, who merely gave his most innocent look he could muster. Sora reluctantly turned his head back to Merlin, who opened the book. Riku watched as Sora turned into a thousand particles, and disappeared, one particle by one. He was resisting the urge to jump forward, and embrace the boy, not wanting to let him dissolve like that.

As the last of Sora disappeared into the book, Merlin calmly closed the book, and, looking back at Riku, motioned to the two chairs that now lay in the center of the room, and said, "have a seat."

Riku made his way over to the chair, and sat down, as Merlin did the same. He took off his spectacles, and, after shining them, looked Riku happily in the eyes. "You love the boy, don't you?" he whispered, barely audible.

Riku looked at him in shock. He wasn't really expecting this man to be quite so…forward. However, instead of saying anything, he merely sighed, and nodded his head.

Merlin smiled benevolently. "Well, don't worry. I won't judge you or anything. After all, who am I to define what love is?"

Riku smiled. "Y'know, it's sad how many people need to learn that."

Merlin nodded understandingly. He then queried, "have you told the boy yet?"

Riku looked down. "Uh…no. I'm…afraid."

"Of rejection?"

Riku nodded.

Merlin smiled. "You should tell him, for I believe your love will be requited."

Riku looked up at him, not understanding a word of what that meant. "Eh?" he asked, cocking his head to the side.

Merlin laughed. "He loves you, Riku. I can feel it shining in his heart. You can see it in his eyes."

Riku looked up at him with hope filling his eyes. "You really think so?"

Merlin nodded. It was then that the two of them fell silent, as a great light filled the room, originating from where the book was laying. Not long after this happened, Sora had appeared. Riku went up to him, and led him outside, with Merlin winking at Riku. Sora couldn't help but wonder what this could mean.

They walked out of his shack, and once again they found themselves in the darkened cavern that surrounded the house. Just as Sora was about to dive into the water, in order to swim back to the Third District, something caught his shirt. He whirled around, only to find that that something was Riku's hand. Sora asked, "what are you…" and then stopped. He was just realizing that Riku was inches away from Sora.

Riku had a caring smile, but his eyes displayed a great nervousness inside the boy. _What could be making him nervous?_ Sora wondered.

"Sora…" Riku whispered, taking him unexpectedly in a warm embrace. Riku's arms were shaking madly.

"Riku…wh…"

_Oh, to hell with it._

"I love you."

Sora gasped slightly. _That was unexpected…_His throat closed up, not allowing him to speak. He managed, after much stuttering, to form words with his lips, and elicit air, so as to say…

"I love you too."

Riku looked into Sora's eyes. "Do you mean it?"

Sora smiled softly. "Of course, I have always loved you. And…I've hated the fact that you always thought that it was Kairi I loved, when…it was you all along."

Riku giggled softly, and then held him to his chest. It was a very romantic sight. Sora cried out of joy, the joy of the knowledge that Riku finally knew his true feelings, and what's more, he felt the same way. Meanwhile, Riku was savoring the feel of Sora against his chest, while repeatedly whispering, (A/N I used a cheap online dictionary. --PLEASE DON'T HATE ME IF I GOT IT WRONG!)"Sora…Sora… ore koigokoro maro, Sora." When roughly translated from Japanese, it means, "Sora…Sora…I love you, Sora." Even those with the coldest of hearts would have smiled at the pure beauty of the picture they painted. For Sora and Riku, everything was wonderful. And it makes me, the writer, think…

It's a shame…that this all has to end so soon.

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When they got back into the Third District, they were surprised to see the gang had emerged from their home, and were standing in the middle of the Third District, fighting off the last Heartless in sight. No words needed to be exchanged about what had just happened, for as soon as they saw Sora and Riku walking in, holding hands and kissing each other lightly on various parts of the face every so often, they knew that they had confessed their undying love to each other. _About time,_ Leon thought, _It was pretty blatantly obvious._

Aerith smiled when she saw them. "You're back-aww!" She shouted the last part as soon as she saw what they were doing. Leon and Cloud chuckled, and put their arms around each other. Riku resisted the urge to chuckle. _Good, they finally stopped making out._ Cid couldn't help but grin. Yuffie…

Yuffie…

Yuffie?

Yuffie was mysteriously absent from the group. Just as Sora was about to ask why, they heard a deafening ringing sound, so loud it actually shook the ground. Riku managed to spit out, through all the chaos, "w-w-wh-wh-wha-wha-what th-th-the he-hel-hell?"

As soon as the ringing subsided, Cloud decided to begin the explanation. "That…would be where Yuffie is. She's off ringing the bell in the Second District."

"There's this old legend," Leon continued, as Cloud snuggled up to him, "that says that if you ring the bell three times, a monster of enormous size will appear. We decided that we wanted to see if there was any truth to that rumor."

"So, here we are!" Aerith said happily.

"A buncha fools waitin' for a monster to ass-whoop." Cid said, flicking the cigarette in his mouth. Aerith glared at him.

"Can we help?" asked Sora eagerly.

"Sure." Leon affirmed.

It was then that the inconceivable happened.

A flicker of light fell from the stars, falling down past the tall building, past the stairs, and right onto the ground in front of Sora. The light hit the ground, and formed the shape of a person. But not just any person. It formed the shape of…

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(A/N: These aren't real Ansem's Reports. I made them up to help explain what is about to happen.)

Ansem's Report 3

There are some things in this world, the world of _Kingdom Hearts_, that should be dutifully noted by the reader of this report at this point. All of them pertain to death.

First of all, when a normal person dies, their body, heart, and soul are isolated from one another. If it was a Heartless that killed them, that Heartless will receive the heart. Otherwise, the being's heart is destined to float aimlessly throughout the worlds, only to eventually fade back into darkness.

The soul goes through a much simpler process. It floats aimlessly throughout the worlds, traveling at lightning speed, revisiting places it recognizes as familiar, and the part of the soul that stores memory is triggered, and thus, the person sees a recognizable remembrance. This is what those that are on their death bed commonly refer to as "having their lives flash before their eyes." It is the cause of their souls leaving the body, and reliving these memories.

However, a little known fact, is that the soul contains most of the body's darkness. It is always balanced out by the heart. The heart is light, the soul is dark. The reason for this…I am displeased to admit that I do not know. In any case, during death, as mentioned previously, the soul and heart are separated. Therefore, the soul is quickly overtaken by the darkness, and thus, a Heartless is born. The more powerful the soul was in its past life, the more powerful the Heartless is.

Finally, the body. The body, when left alone, actually notices the absence of a soul and heart. It, for lack of better terms, misses them, craves them, wants them. It is this craving that triggers the body to, in a zombie-like maneuver, develop a will of its own, and thus go out and search for these essential parts of the body. Thus, a Nobody is born.

Thus, the person dies. They are transformed into things that, though the Nobody bears a heavy resemblance to their original selves, are not themselves. However, as with almost every process known to man, there are extenuating circumstances. This process is much different in three cases.

If the being was a Heartless. If this is the case, the being merely fades back into darkness. It is a far simpler process.

If the being was a Nobody. If this is the case, the being goes through the same process as the Heartless.

If the being was a Princess of Heart, or one of the seven princesses needed to open a mysterious door that I know little of at this time. If this is the case, many things can happen. The heart stays with the body, as the darkness cannot touch it. The soul may stay with the body, and thus, nothing comes from their death. The other case, however, is that the soul leaves the body, causing the body to crave a soul, thus creating a Nobody with a heart. However, since their bodies were pure of darkness, the soul does not consume itself, and therefore, no Heartless is created. Instead, the soul wanders, and it can actually create a copy of its original self…

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The light hit the ground, and formed the shape of a person. But not just any person. It formed the shape of…

Kairi.

She stood in front of Sora, grinning proudly. Sora beamed innocently at her arrival. "Kairi!" he shouted happily. She ran up, and pushed him against the wall. Pinning her lips against his, she kissed him roughly…passionately…

Sora shoved her off. Kairi was mad for a second, but then she caught where Sora's glance was. It was off behind him, and Sora sure had an apologetic face on. She turned around, and Riku looked hurt, beyond any hurt Kairi could have pictured him to have.

Riku bit his lip, as involuntary tears streamed down his face. "You said…you said you loved me." He paused as he wiped the tears from his face, as his expression grew more outraged. "You said you loved me, Sora!" he shouted. "How could you do this?"

"Riku…" Sora said softly, almost a whisper, but not quite. "Riku, I'm…"

"I don't care what you are, Sora." Riku said, his voice breaking. "Can't you see what you have done to me? I gave you everything, my feelings, my soul, my heart. And you take all of that, and throw it away, as if it were useless trash. You…" Riku couldn't continue. He summoned a portal of darkness and, sprinting towards it, he dove through it. You could hear the sobs echo through the dusk for a few seconds afterwards, and then, all was quiet.

Kairi put a hand on Sora's shoulder. "Sora…it's okay. He doesn't matter. Nothing matters. We have each other. That's all we need…right?"

"No, Kai," Sora said, angrily turning on his friend, "that's not all we need. I don't know what planet you've been living on, but I only agreed to be your boyfriend back on the Islands because I didn't want to lose you as a best friend. And now look what you've done…you've upset the one boy that I do love!"

"But…" Kairi half-whimpered, as if she were the victim, "but…you are supposed to love me… you are supposed to be with me…"

Sora scoffed loudly. "Be with YOU? I would rather be WITH the Grinch! Lemme put it this way- if we were the last two people in the universe, and the human race depended on our procreation, I'd rather make love to a dog and create a new species than make love to you. I hope you go burn in a ditch, Kairi!" Sora shouted the last part. I know…cold.

Kairi looked extremely hurt. In reality, this time, she had a right to. "Sora…" she called after him, as he dashed off to the portal which was quickly dissipating. With one last "Fuck you!" thrown over his shoulder, Sora dove, just barely making it into the portal. As he left, all was silent for a moment. Then, a great rumbling came. In a method that was much like the big fight from Traverse Town which had previously ensued, a great monster fell from the sky.

"Hoo boy, the shit's sure hit the fan now!" Cid shouted, as everyone but Kairi drew their weapons. Kairi, about to cry, ran off to a secluded corner, and did just that.

After about twenty minutes of sitting in solitude, crying her eyes out and listening to the fight ensue, a voice echoed around her.

"Hello, child. I heard you crying, and I believe I can help you…"

"Who are you?" Kairi called, standing up.

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Riku swam through the portal of darkness, crying and clutching his chest, trying to steady his breathing but failing miserably. How could Sora do that? How could Kairi do that? He had believed Sora would be his true love, just as in all of the Hollywood movies. Perhaps that one never truly existed.Perhaps...

It was then that a voice rang out through the darkness.

"Hello, child. I heard you crying, and I believe I can help you…"

"Who are you?" Riku called, snapping his attention to his surroundings.

"My name…is Maleficent."

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Ooh, I love this ending. So suspenseful. Please R&R. Reviewers get the address of Kairi so they can go egg her house.

Kairi: (Glares)


	6. Chapter 6: Is Sorry Good Enough?

Hello again! Well, now that the story's about half over, I am going to try and get chapters out quicker. No promises, though. Anyways, on with the mindless side notes…

Sorry this took so long. See, I'm writing, like, 6 stories at once, most of which aren't on FanFiction. If you want to see the rest, you can add me over MySpace.  Anyways, I have been trying to wrap one of those up. But failing D:

**Disclaimer: **No, I do not own Kingdom Hearts. If I did…put it this way, neither Zexion nor Demyx would be able to walk very well. Ever.

**Warnings:** While this story is as close to the actual KH story as I can get it, it still is a SoraxRiku story, and there is little of this SoraxKAIRI bullshit. So…if you don't like boyxboy, leave. Now.

Anyways, on with the show!

Kingdom Hearts: Altered Promises

Chapter 6: Is Sorry Good Enough?

Sora flew through the darkness, his head spinning with thoughts. He had just lost his two best friends, all because of the haste of one of them. _Damn you, Kairi…_Sora mentally cursed Kairi. While he knew deep down it wasn't her fault, she still shouldn't have been so hurried to greet him in that… "friendly" of a manner. He just hoped that Riku would forgive him. And Kairi…honestly, at this point, he couldn't care less. Whatever happened to her was irrelevant now, as long as he was reunited with Riku.

Sora was so busy worrying about how Riku felt, he hardly noticed when strands of darkness started migrating across his body. He felt a little funny, and as he looked down, only to see his feet completely encompassed in it, as it made its way up his slender body. Sora screamed. This had never happened…

When Riku was there…

_"Hey!" Aerith spoke up, finally. "You could use the darkness to travel from place to place!"_

_Leon cocked his head to the side. "You sure that's a good idea, Aerith?"_

_Aerith smiled and nodded. "Yes, as long as they have each other, I don't believe the darkness can penetrate their hearts."_

Sora's eyes widened in discovery. So the reason why Sora was being eaten by the darkness…was that Riku and Sora weren't together to fight off the impending darkness, and Sora couldn't do it on his own. The darkness was closing in on the top of his head, he was going to drown in darkness, just as he had always feared. His fist clenched as he noticed the lack of oxygen in the darkness. He closed his eyes, and, just as he was falling unconscious, he saw a bright light.

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_Sora and Riku walked into the cavern called the Secret Place. Sora was eleven and Riku was twelve. Sora, instead of his current outfit, was wearing a simple white t-shirt with red shorts, while Riku wore a yellow shirt with blue shorts. They were currently, as usual, immersed in an argument._

_"See? There is no monster in here!" Riku puffed his chest up proudly._

_Sora softly socked him in the arm. "Shut up. Don't be so…air-o-gint."_

_Riku gave him a confused look. "What was that last word?"_

_"I dunno," Sora said, giving a shrug. "I think it means stuck-up. I heard mom complaining about someone and she used that word."_

_Riku giggled. "I think you're just makin' this up."_

_"I am not!" Sora retorted harshly._

_Riku chuckled, then put his arm around Sora. "All right, all right, don't get over-excited. I believe you."_

_Sora smiled and giggled/hiccupped. He then stared off into space. He did that whenever he had suddenly become engulfed in a deep thought. Riku, as usual, forgetting what this meant, waved his hand in front of Sora's face. Sora, after blinking a few times, turned to the boy next to him, a confused look on his face. "Eh?" he inquired._

_"You were just staring off into space again." Riku said nonchalantly. _

_"Oh, sorry." Sora said, blinking a couple of times and remembering where he was. "I was just thinking…what are we going to do if there IS a monster on the island? I don't think I'd be strong enough to fight it…" Sora added the last part with a modest blush staining his cheeks._

_Riku thought about it for a moment, before a self-confident smile lit up his face. "Well, don't worry. I'll 'tect you."_

_Sora looked up at him, big blue eyes widening. "You promise?"_

_Riku smiled. "Promise, Sora-chan."_

_Sora giggled and watched as Riku launched into a lengthy explanation of how he would beat the monster, which basically had every third word being "like, KA-POW!" Sora smiled serenely, knowing that, if he ever needed help, his Riku would be there._

Sora stirred softly, his hand twitching, then his whole body responding to his environments. It was cold around him. Cold and wet. He looked around, and was surprised, to say the least, to find that…he seemed to be inside something. The walls were a soft pink, and there was a lining of teeth in the middle of one of them. There seemed to be a small lake that he was almost in, and in it, there were an assortment of pieces of wood floating around. In the middle of all these pieces of wood, there was a boat, where a frantic elderly man was running in circles, frantically calling something.

Sora rose to his feet, and, wading into the water, rapidly swam to the old man. Sora figured he would ask about Riku. After all, Sora had followed Riku through the portal, and therefore, theoretically, Riku should be somewhere in that giant animal-looking thing.

As he swam closer, Sora noticed the old man seemed to be shouting someone's name… "Pinocchio," that was it. Sora approached him rapidly. "Hey, sir," he began, "have you…"

"Have you seen Pinocchio?" the old man burst.

Sora blinked in confusion. "No, can't say I have. Why?"

The old man sighed dejectedly. "Darn it. That boy has run off again."

Sora raised his eyebrows. At least he wasn't the only person who lost someone in here. "Oh, well," he began, "I'm terribly sorry to hear that. Maybe I can look for him. I'm looking for someone anyways."

The old man nodded eagerly. "That would be wonderful. See, Pinocchio is just a boy. Oh dear, I hope he hasn't been completely devoured by those heartless…uh, Heartless." Sora gulped nervously. He hadn't really fought Heartless on his own, and when the prospect of him doing this came up, his nerves sang a song shriller than a dog whistle.

Meanwhile, the old man shook his head, and continued. "He's about yea high." He put his hand up to his waist, causing Sora to wear a quizzical look. _Is he seriously that small?_ "Oh, and he's made of wood." At this, Sora's eyebrows shot up. _Well…THAT'S certainly new,_ he thought. "And you can tell he's lying, because when he does lie, his nose grows."

Sora was giving him a look that displayed his inner thoughts, that he was deeply considering calling the local mental institution, and having them take care of this guy. "Um…okay," Sora said, failing at hiding the disbelief in his tone, "I'll keep my eyes open."

As Sora began to leave to try and find a way to plunge deeper into…wherever he was, the old man called, "wait!" Sora turned around calmly, though inside, he was anything but calm. He wanted to say, "listen, buddy. I have a goddamn boyfriend to find, so why don't you shut the hell up, huh?" But, of course, we all know Sora- bleeding-heart Sora, always willing to help everyone else before himself. "Yeah?" Sora asked.

The old man smiled benevolently. "You still haven't told me about who you're looking for."

Sora smiled widely. _Heh, right…I forgot. That WAS why I came over here._ "Well, he's just a little older than me. He's got this silver hair…"

"…Down to his shoulder-blades, right?"

Sora was more than surprised that this random stranger knew who Riku was. "Y-yeah. How do you know Riku?" Sora asked slowly. This was really starting to creep him out.

The old man's face, for the first time in this conversation, grew very grave. "Oh, I saw the poor boy swimming away from this dark…thing. Kind of like the thing you popped out of over there." He pointed to a spot nearby where Sora had woken up. Sora looked over for a brief second, but was more interested in the current whereabouts of Riku, so he looked back eagerly at the old man. "And?"

The old man looked remorseful now. "Well, I stopped him, and asked him if he had seen Pinocchio. He said no. Then I asked…why he was crying. He said…oh dear, what was it…that's it! He just sighed and said, 'Sometimes life throws you something that you need to get over but you can't. I just got one.' And then, he ran off, through that door." The old man motioned towards an opening on the left hand side of the room they currently were in.

Sora ran up and shook his hand quickly and roughly, before running off, calling over his shoulder, "Thanks! I'll look for Pinot Grigio!"

The old man called after him, "That's Pinocchio!" But it was lost. So, the old man just turned around, and tended to the fish in the fishbowl behind him. "The crazy things some people will do for love."

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Sora ran into the first room, and immediately, he ran into the object of his desires. Though, in all honesty, the object, who also went by the name Riku, wasn't all too pleased to see Sora. "Well, well." Riku chided, "look who decided to show up. Come to rant about how much you love Kairi?" He said the last part so cynically, so psychotically, Sora was starting to believe he wasn't dealing with the same Riku that he had grown up with.

"But…Riku…" Sora began, but Riku wasn't listening. In Riku's defense, he felt heartbroken. So heartbroken, that all particles of sense had left his body. He was now…just afraid. Afraid that the next words Sora spoke might hurt him. Instead of letting him talk, Riku just turned to the doorway on the opposite side and walked away. He turned his head, and threw final words over his shoulder. "Sora…I don't want to hear your love tales about _her._" He spat as he said the last word. "Why don't you go bother someone else?"

"Riku!" Sora shouted. Just then, however, ten or so Shadows materialized out of the ground. Sora gasped, his knees slightly shaking. He summoned the Keyblade, and tried Riku one last time. "Riku, please! I'm defenseless without you."

"Why should I care?" Riku snarled over his shoulder. "You broke my heart. Now…karma says that you deserve to break something of yours."

Sora felt tears come to his eyes. Why must Riku reject him? If Riku would just listen…

Sora looked up, only to discover that the place where Riku had been standing was no longer occupied Riku, and instead, was filled with Heartless. Sora sighed, and drew his Keyblade. Charging towards one of the Heartless, he swung, letting the fury of losing Riku because Kairi made a stupid move motivate him to hit the Heartless with all of his might.

Two minutes later, Sora collapsed on the ground, breathing heavily. The Heartless were now officially gone, so Sora could do what he wanted to do most- lay back, and breathe. And think. Some thinking was definitely in order.

Sora felt as if he was going to die, and this was nothing compared to some of the battles he and Riku fought. Now that he thought about it, Riku and Sora were basically an invincible team, and yet separate, they could hardly be classified as "fighters." Their separate classification, at least Sora's, was more like "lucky."

One thing was becoming apparent to Sora. He really needed Riku back.

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"Why should I care?" Riku snarled over his shoulder. "You broke my heart. Now…karma says that you deserve to break something of yours."

Riku saw Sora's head bow down. He could tell that Sora had this pained look on his face, complete with an irresistible pout, and his eyes were tearing up. Sora had seen this look a few times, but most of the others dealing with Sora losing the cookie he was eating. Granted, this had last occurred when Sora was eight, but Riku had still teased him about it back on the islands.

_The islands…_God, how Riku missed them. Not so much the Islands themselves, but what they now symbolized for him. Sora. Good old Sora. Not the current Sora, not the two-faced Sora that will tell you he loves you and then two minutes later, start making out with your best friend. Not that Sora. But the Sora that Riku had grown up with, the Sora that Riku, oh so long ago, had sworn to protect. No, Riku had never forgotten that moment, nor had he forgotten the wondrous, loving look Sora had given him after Riku had promised that, if a monster had ever appeared, and was threatening Sora, Riku would come up and…well, Riku believed his exact words were, "Beat it like this, like KA-POW! And then give it an uppercut- WHAM! And…" So on and so forth. Riku smiled. The memories he and Sora had created over the years he would always remember.

Riku hardly noticed, through all of this thought, that he had completely abandoned Sora, and now he stood in front of a woman who was cloaked in a flowing black dress. Her skin was pale, and her eyes were yellow with black slits, much like that of a snake, like the serpent in the Garden of Eden he had heard about that one time he went to church, and these he stared at were no less malevolent.

Her name was Maleficient.

"Hello, child. I assume you told off that wretched boy?" she spoke, her voice steady yet it had a threatening undertone. Riku just nodded, slightly sadly. Maleficent smiled, satisfied. "Good. Before long, he will be gone from your life forever."

"And…then the pain will be gone?"

Maleficient nodded. "But of course? What can inflict pain when the thing doesn't exist?"

Riku nodded slowly. He couldn't help but feel that this was wrong. After all, he wanted Sora to not hurt him anymore, but did that mean he had to die?

_Wait a minute…_Riku's eyebrows lifted in revelation. By aiding Maleficient, he was becoming a two-faced hypocrite. He had sworn to protect Sora from all harm, and yet here he was, attempting to kill Sora off. Since when was the verbal contract he had made with Sora that fateful afternoon null and void if Sora didn't love him like Riku loved Sora?

Riku shook his head, and spoke. "Um…Maleficient?"

The witch tilted her head to the side, and asked over her shoulder, "Yes, child?"

Riku was slightly taken aback at the name. Riku may be young, but he certainly wasn't a child. "Well…I've considered our deal, and…I want out." Riku practically had to force the last three words out.

"What? And why has this proposition surfaced?" Maleficient shouted, glowering at Riku. _How dare the boy betray me!_ she thought.

"Because…well, I would be a hypocrite if I went through this. I promised that I would always protect Sora, and I never break promises."

"Oh, some things change, dear." Maleficient said, her fake soothing tone returning to her. She put her hand on his back, and Riku shuddered at the touch, especially because of her long, purple nails that, whether this was on purpose or not, slightly dug into his back. "Now, think no more of these silly memories, and…"

"These memories aren't silly, though!" Riku said, slightly raising his tone as he tore away from her touch. "They meant the world to me for the last five years, and, though Sora has broken my heart, nothing has changed. I want out, Maleficient. I mean it."

She returned to glaring daggers at the boy. "You pathetic fool! You are letting your emotions best you! I thought I have taught you…"

"Well, guess what, Maleficient?" Riku said, the hatred now obvious in his tone. "I let my emotions best me when I started serving you. I'm only sorry that I didn't figure it out sooner."

"Oh, that's not the only thing you'll be sorry for when I'm finished with you!" Maleficient snarled. With that, she raised her staff that she always carried around, which was black with a green orb on the end, and hit Riku across the cheek.

"Hold it right there!" A voice called from behind Riku. Riku turned around, and was more than surprised to see Sora. Riku's heart leapt in his chest. Maybe Sora really did love him. After how cold Riku had been to him a while back, it takes some serious dedication to come running back to protect the person that just rejected you.

Maleficient smiled. "Good. We can kill two birds with one stone…literally." And so, the fight ensued.

It really was, to say the least, one hell of a battle. Riku and Sora took turns healing each other, while the other beat the living daylights out of her and, in turn, got the living daylights beaten out of themselves.

When it was over, though, Sora was on one knee, panting heavily, while Riku was breathing hard, but on his two feet, and using the last of his strength to glare at Maleficient. Maleficient was stumbling backwards awkwardly, clutching her chest, and summoning a dark portal simultaneously. "You haven't seen the last of me!" she gasped, a droplet of blood trickling out of her mouth.

Sora, now on his feet and glaring alongside Riku, spoke up, "Oh. I do think that this is the last of what we'll hear from you, Maleficient." With that, he raised his Keyblade and pointed it at Maleficient. Riku copied him. A familiar orb developed on both blades' tips, and a laser shot out of the center of these orbs, piercing the heart of Maleficient. She gasped for air, and spoke, her voice barely a whisper. "The light…it's…blinding…" With that, she collapsed onto the ground. Stands of darkness slowly wrapped their ways around her body, and, with one final gasp, she vanished into thin air. All that remained of what once was the mistress of all evil was her trademarked black cloak she always draped on her body. Riku and Sora stood still. After a momentary silence, Riku spoke slowly.

"How ironic," he said, "she was just another puppet after all."

Sora looked over at him, slightly confused by his cryptic words. Sometimes Riku got like this. "What?" he asked.

Riku looked over at him, a frown still plastered on his face, and explained. "The Heartless were using Maleficient from the beginning. She failed to notice the darkness in her heart eating away at her." He then smiled. "A fitting end for such a fool." He stomped lightly on the cloak, and, after he twisted his foot, it magically vanished.

Sora nodded his understanding. He then decided, after a long debate in his mind about whether he should do this or not, to bite the bullet and ask Riku the question that had been burning a hole in his mind ever since he had found Riku here.

"Why did you try to help her anyways?"

At first, Riku was silent. Then, he spoke, his voice shaking slightly. "It wasn't so much me helping her as her helping me. Or, her tricking me into thinking she was helping me."

Sora looked at him, confused. "Why, though?"

Riku looked back at him, tears slowly filling his eyes. "Because…I…I don't know. I wanted…I wanted to be happy. And after you cheated on me, it got me thinking."

"But, Riku…"

"Sora, let me finish. I realized that you were kind of the light for my life. And yet, that light had rejected me. So, I attempted to seek happiness in the darkness. And there she was. But now, I suppose I reject darkness. Maybe I'm too good for the darkness…but not good enough for the light."

"Riku…" Sora began again, but Riku wasn't listening. Slowly, sadly, Riku turned on his heel, and started to walk away.

"Do what you will, Sora. I'll be fine. I just don't want to be around you. Or…you and _her._" Riku threw the last word over his shoulder, mixed in with a sob. He started to walk off, but just as he was, he felt his innards twist. He remembered his promise- that he would always protect Sora. So why was he leaving him? For his own betterment?

This second of pausing cost Riku the chance to run away. Riku snapped out of his thought process as he felt two arms snake their way around his body. He turned around, only to find spiky hair poking at his chin, and a face nuzzled into his chest.

"Riku…" Sora said through his chest, "I love you. I have always loved you, and only you. What you saw of me and Kairi was Kairi forcing herself on me. I hope you believe me when I say that I will always be yours if you want me to be."

Riku smiled. "Of course I want you to be. But I don't know if I can trust you again." Riku looked away as he said the last part, almost as if he were ashamed to admit it. Sora's frown deepened when he saw this.

"Riku," Sora said, trying to get his attention. No response. Louder, now, "Riku!"

"Yes?" Riku responded suddenly.

"Look in my eyes."

Slowly, almost too slow to be noticeable, Riku turned his head, and looked deep into Sora's eyes. They were warm, loving eyes, and they made Riku realize something. Sora was being honest. The one part of a liar that can't lie is the eyes. Riku smiled softly. "I…" he tightened his grip on the younger boy. "I trust you. I…I love you." This was the first time in ages that Riku had really cried.

Sora held him close to his body, inching towards tears himself. "I love you too, Ri-kun."

They stood like that for over twenty minutes. There were no Heartless around them, it was almost as if they knew that this was one moment they weren't to interrupt. And as Riku, holding Sora's hand, summoned a portal and walked through it, continuing on his crazed path of life, he felt as if his heart was whole.

Darkness. And light. Together. There's no better feeling.

Earth. And Sky. Together. There's no better feeling.

Riku. And Sora. Together. There's no better feeling

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Yeah. For those who don't know, in Japanese, the word for sky is Sora, and the word for earth is Riku. Well, at least, that's what they sound like. u.u I think. I don't speak Japanese. I phail.

Anyways, yeah. Please comment and tell me what you thought of this extremely short chapter. I'll try to get the next chappie up soon, but it's kinda a filler chapter. After that, though, things get intense. Trust me. Undying Lover, signing out.


	7. Chapter 7: Le Near Death Filler Chapter

Kingdom Hearts: Altered Promises

Whew! Made it to chapter 7. You know, with the last chapter, this is the longest story I have ever written? Through chapter 6, it's 68 pages on MS Word, and I don't even know for sure if we're at the halfway point yet!

I apologize for this taking so damn long to write, but life's gotten…hectic, to say the least.

Riku: Aw, quit bitching and get on with it! I want my moments with Sora now!

Sora: (Giggles) I love you too. (Kisses)

Me: (Rolls eyes) Stupid kids.

Anyhow, on with the regular stuff.

Disclaimer: No, I don't own Kingdom Hearts. If I did, we wouldn't refer to Kairi as "Kairi" so much as "The Red-Haired Bitch." And other names the Christian in me won't let me say.

Christian-In-Author: REPENT, FAGGOT!

Me: (Rolls eyes again)

Warning: Let's make this short and simple. If you don't like boyxboy love, then…away with ye.

Chapter 7: Le Near-Death Filler Chapter

The next worlds passed by in a flash. Now that Sora and Riku were together and content, the days seemed to fly by. As they say, time flies when you're having fun.

Sora had been absolutely ecstatic over the past few days. Who could have blamed him? He was with the love of his life. Ever since puberty first hit, Sora had admired Riku. From a distance, of course. This is the plight of a homosexual, especially one like Sora, whose gaydar apparently exploded with the beginning of puberty. How convenient.

Riku was just as happy. Merlin was right. He had to remember to, next time he saw the elderly wizard, thank him. He prayed that this happily ever after would last forever, and nobody would try to interfere. And I as the author have to laugh.

If his prayers were heard, it's certainly a wonder how short of a time forever really is.

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Sora and Riku emerged roughly from the portal. Immediately, both sensed something wrong. Their minds were clouded, their chest feeling weird.

They were at the bottom of the sea.

And Sora couldn't swim.

He flailed frantically about, trying his hardest to get up to the surface. Riku looked over at him and, eyes wide, realizing the gravity of the situation, made a beeline for Sora. He took Sora by the arm, and held out his hand, trying with all his might to focus his attention, though he couldn't focus to save his life.

_Damn it, we should have gone with that duck and that dog. That duck could have done something with magic to make us have gills._

_Sora, please don't die. I love you. You can't die now._

_Where the hell is that red-haired bitch when you need her?_

Riku shook his head worriedly, as he realized that he, too, was running out of air. Sora had gone completely limp in his arms, passed out due to lack-of-oxygen. He was probably within an inch of his life. Riku focused, thinking about nothing more than saving Sora and getting the hell out of there. A dark portal appeared about ten yards away. Using every ounce of his strength, he swam himself into the dark portal and passed out.

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Aqua eyes slowly blinked open, adjusting to the darkness surrounding him. Riku raised his head, looking around, trying to figure out exactly where he was. He laid his head back again, figuring out that he was in the dark portal. This time, however, unlike when he was going into that one giant whale-thing, he felt a familiar warm lump in his arms. He looked up, and saw just what, or should I say who, it was.

A certain chocolate-haired boy was looking back at him, cerulean blue eyes blinking with innocence and thankfulness. He was smiling wider than Riku had ever seen him smile. It was kind of cute, kind of creepy, to be honest.

Sora… 

"Morning," Sora said cheerfully.

Riku smiled. "Morning. What are you doing up when it's still dark out?"

Sora giggled. "Silly." _Yay,_ Riku thought, _someone to finally laugh at my corny jokes._ Though this was never mentioned in any telling of this tale before this (i.e. Kingdom Hearts) Riku was notorious for horrible jokes. It's a wonder people could stand him. Thank his sex godly wonderful characteristics.

Sora inched up Riku's body, and brought his face six inches away from Riku's. Riku's breathing involuntarily staggered. And then he grinned slightly, trying to hold back a laugh when he thought, _yay! Someone to be on top!_

Sora was smiling wider now, looking like the Chesire Cat they had encountered back in Wonderland. "You saved my life."

Riku looked at him confused, before remembering the ordeal that happened back in Monstro. He smiled. _Yay! I have someone to save!_ "Yes. I did." Riku said, grinning.

Sora giggled. "Thank you so much." Sora wound his arms around Riku, resting his head on Riku's chest, looking up at the older boy with wonder and…something else.

"Anytime." Riku said, smiling softly. There was a silence that followed this. Riku was reflecting on their relationship. He was really starting to fall for Sora. As much as Riku missed home, he could honestly stay here with Sora forever. Riku was thinking about one question: what was Sora to him? Was Sora still the huggable, best friend that Riku had grown to know and love? Was Sora something more, now that they had said the classic, cliché, romantic three words of "I love you?" What was Sora to him?

Riku was so busy thinking, he hardly noticed Sora's face getting close to his. Riku snapped out of it when Sora's face was less than an inch from his. Sora's hot breath tickled Riku's lips, teasing him, wanting him. Without further pause, Sora leaned in, locking lips with Riku's. It was a simple, chaste kiss, there wasn't any tongue involved, unlike the one on Destiny Islands. But there was far more meaning behind it, far more than any Sora and Riku, for that matter, Sora and Kairi, had ever shared. It was each's first voluntary kiss. And it felt so good.

Just as Riku was about to deepen the kiss, Sora pulled back, looking behind him, though he wasn't being shy, but instead was examining something beyond themselves. "We'd better stop. Looks like we're arriving at the destination soon."

Riku looked to where Sora was looking, and saw a light growing bigger with each passing second. Sora was right. They were about to get to where they were going. Riku could faintly make out a castle in the midst of the light. A purplish castle. Riku smiled contentedly. What was Sora to him?

Sora was someone to laugh at his corny jokes.

Sora was someone to be on top.

Sora was someone to save.

Sora was someone to kiss.

Sora was someone to love.

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Well, that sucked XP. I took this long to write this short of a chapter? Dear Lord. I promise you, the next one will be hella good. In the meantime, please R&R this chapter.

Preview: In the next few chapters, there will be two reunions, three deaths, a birth, and lemon.

And, just as an apology for the ephemeral chapter you just read, here's a random short one-shot. Totally unrelated to the story, but…shut up. And, in this story, I'm the director of KH, not Tetsuya Nomura. Oh, how I wish. Anyways, here it is!

"Well, there is one advantage to being me…something you could never imitate." Riku said, smiling happily to himself, looking up into the darkness of the sky.

"Really? What's that?" Sora asked curiously.

"…" Riku giggled slightly, then burst, "An eight-inch cock!" With that well-spoken phrase, Riku broke into a fit of hysterics, rolling on the ground, laughing and clutching his sides. Sora followed suit soon after he got over the shock of hearing Riku say that out loud…and on camera, to boot.

"Cut!" A teenaged director walked into the scene, clutching his forehead, and shaking his head, annoyed. He had short highlighted blonde hair, put up with just a dabble of gel. He had emerald green eyes that sparkled with the bright "moon," or, in reality, a well-placed light. He was dressed in an Abercrombie t-shirt and American Eagle jeans. Despite his choice of clothing, he was not incredibly preppy. He would still take Shakira over generic hip-hop or rap any day.

"For the last goddamn time, Mr. Semehikaru, the line is 'having you for a friend.' Not 'I have more squealing fangirls than you.' Not 'I get to be on top.' And it is most certainly not, 'an eight-inch cock.' Please, get it right. I have to be at my boyfriend's house in thirty minutes!" The director spoke calmly, but he still maintained an edge in his voice.

Riku pouted. "Aww, but I do have an eight-inch cock." He leaned into Sora, and spoke in a baby tone. "Id'nt dat right, Sora-kins?"

Sora blushed furiously, while putting a hand over Riku's mouth. Riku was, once again, in hysterics. The director just gaped at Sora. He closed his mouth, and giggled, probably thinking of his boyfriend. The director then shook his head rapidly, turned away, and muttered, "get back to work, eight-incher."

It took twenty minutes for Sora and Riku to stop laughing. The director was, evidently, late to his dinner.


	8. Chapter 8: Hollow Bastion Part One

Well, I figure I've kept you in suspense long enough. It's time to unveil the next chapter!

And again, with the usual junk:

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Kingdom Hearts, Disney, Square Enix, or anything. Though, I wish I did. Can you say, "CloudxLeon instead of Traverse Town?" Yeah, apparently, the guys over at Squenix can't. Boo. They suck.

**Warning: **This item may cause drowsiness. Do not take prior to operating heavy machinery. Oh, wait. Wrong thing. Erm…here we go. Ahem, this is a…aw, fuck it. If you don't know what I might be warning about by now, you have nothing to worry about.

**Author's Notes:** Yay! It's officially 2007! Okay, this time I have a good excuse for taking so friggin long to update. My dad just got remarried, and we moved into the town next to us, so things have been overall hectic lately. Sorry!

Oh, and, if you are curious, this was also going to be titled "Shit Hits The Fan, Part Deux." Ooh, marvel at the foreshadowing…

Anyways, on with the show!

Kingdom Hearts: Altered Promises

Chapter Eight: Hollow Bastion Part One

_Kairi looked extremely hurt. In reality, this time, she had a right to. "Sora…" she called after him, as he dashed off to the portal which was quickly dissipating. With one last "Fuck you!" thrown over his shoulder, Sora dove, just barely making it into the portal. As he left, all was silent for a moment. Then, a great rumbling came. In a method that was much like the big fight from Traverse Town which had previously ensued, a great monster fell from the sky._

_ "Hoo boy, the shit's sure hit the fan now!" Cid shouted, as everyone but Kairi drew their weapons. Kairi, about to cry, ran off to a secluded corner, and did just that._

An hour later, the fight was over. The monster's head lay on the ground, separated from the rest of the body. Cloud was cradling Leon in his arms bridal-style, while Leon tried to catch his breath. Aerith was in Yuffie's arms, as Yuffie tried to find a way to support both of their weights. She failed miserably, and instead slumped to the ground. Merlin the Wizard, drained of all magic and energy, was literally napping on the battlefield. Honestly, sometimes the Wizard just didn't make too much sense.

Cid, meanwhile, stood over all of them, thinking quietly. He flicked his cigarette, and suddenly lifted an index finger. To normal people, this would have meant nothing other than "Hey look! I can lift my index finger!" However, after years in this "kill-or-be-killed" environment, the entire group had slowly grown accustomed to it meaning "quiet for a moment." Or, in Cid's case, "shut yer traps, I'm thinkin'."

"Do y'all hear that?" Cid whispered to his fellow fighters.

A silence was cast over the group, as they strained to hear what Cid was talking about. Sure enough, if they strained hard enough, they could make out Kairi talking with…someone else. This other someone had a soothing tone, and yet one who consciously paid attention to her tone would realize that the undertone was bubbling with malevolence.

"S…" Kairi stuttered, sniffling, "so you're saying…you can get Sora…back for me?"

"But of course, darling." The other said relaxingly. "I don't know if you ever found this out on this…_island_ you told me about…" They found it odd how she stressed the word island. She obviously wasn't from Sora's hometown. "…but homosexuality is an _easily _curable disease."

_Bullshit! _They all simultaneously thought. Everyone they knew was fully aware and accepting of the fact that homosexuality is less of a disease and more of a trait. More importantly, there was no cure for it. No spell was known to man, no potion known to moogles, and no violent tactics known to Keyblade warriors could turn a gay man straight. Please! How technologically behind do you have to be to not know that?

Leon suddenly gasped. "Their Islands!" He said in a hushed, hurried whisper. Everyone turned their attention off of the two that were conversing elsewhere, and onto Leon.

"What about 'em?" Cid asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well, Aerith, remember when I asked you to leave with Yuffie? When Riku and Sora had just gotten here?" Aerith nodded, along with Yuffie, while Cid and Cloud just kind of pretended like they understood. "Well, I told Riku about Hollow Bastion, and Riku was astonished. They barely had any technology at all over on these Destiny Islands of theirs apparently."

"Are you shittin' me?" Cid asked incredulously. He flicked his cigarette, and said, "Damn, no wonder this dumb bitch Kai-whatever is falling for this witch's tricks."

They all quieted, and simultaneously, their attention all turned to the conversation. Apparently, though, it was just ending.

"Come, child," the woman said, "we shall discuss this in my castle."

Pause. "Y-you have a (sniffle) castle?" Kairi asked pathetically.

"Indeed." The woman said. Leon had to give this woman credit, she may have been evil, but she had a nice vocabulary.

"O-okay…I guess I'll go with you…Maleficient, right?"

"Yes."

The group heard a dark portal sound, as Maleficient and Kairi teleported away. The group looked at one another, thinking along the same lines. Put it this way- what they thought couldn't be said on national television without getting bleeped. It may or may not begin with "mother…"

"Maleficient…"Aerith and Cloud said at once.

"Not good…" Yuffie whispered. Leon just shook his head.

"Oh God. If Maleficient tears apart those three…God knows what's going to happen."

"Wait!" Cloud shouted. He then smiled broadly, proudly. He sure had been doing that a lot since he had been reunited with Leon. And skipping. He had done his share of skipping, sometimes while singing. Anyways, back on topic. Cloud continued, "What if we follow them? Cid could probably use one of the gummi ships!"

"That's possible," Cid said, "though it would take a while to prepare,"

"That's fine, just get it ready as soon as possible," Aerith said determinedly. Sometimes, she could get more commanding than the toughest existing sergeant.

"B-but wait! Where is Maleficient?" Yuffie asked.

"Probably her home," Leon returned.

"Yeah," Cloud said, taking random refuge in Leon's arms, "Hollow Bastion."

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Riku and Sora stumbled out of the dark portal, Sora falling face-first into the ground. "Man, does the awkward transition of that ever let up?" he complained.

Riku chuckled. "Hey, look who's still standing up." He motioned towards himself.

Sora brought his arms up to his shoulders and push-uped his way to a full standing position. He walked over to Riku, and play-punched him in the arm. "Hey, don't be so air-o-gint!"

Riku smiled. _Just like so long ago._ "I still think you made that word up," Riku joked, ruffling Sora's hair. Sora just pouted, and tried to fix his hair which, ironically, due to the large amount of gel put in it, had not changed at all.

Riku's smile stayed. "Has anyone ever told you how beautiful you are?"

Sora smiled at him. They locked eyes. For as long as Riku could remember, he had loved Sora's eyes. Ever since Riku was six, and he had seen Sora for the first time, Riku had loved the boy's eyes. Blue. Blue like the sky. Riku reminisced back to the first time they met. It had been so…so simple, so clean, so pure, so wonderful. Sora, then five, had waltzed right up to Riku, and said, "hi! If I give you a cookie, will you be my friend?"

Riku had been slightly taken aback by how forward this approach was. Before that, everyone had somewhat isolated themselves. And yet, here was this kid, coming up to him out of nowhere, and offering him a cookie for his friendship. Obviously, this kid was something else, something new, something different, something extraordinary. He then had made a promise to himself, to always keep Sora by his side, no matter what.

But back to the matters at hand. Riku looked around, confused, not knowing where he was. The place they were in now consisted of a series of stone steps leading up to a platform that just stopped. In the distance, he could faintly make out a castle with the Heartless emblem on it. Something told him this wasn't going to be a fun world. They were surrounded by waterfalls, though the water seemed solid, almost as if one could walk on it. Floating sporadically above the surface were bubbles, about half the size of the both of them. It was really aesthetically pleasing.

They both heard sounds at the top of the ledge. One sounded deep and scratchy, almost like a tiger's angered growl. The other sounded feminine, yet it had an extremely masculine undertone, almost to the point of bordering on menacing. Riku and Sora looked at each other and, immediately recognizing that this must mean trouble, they immediately jumped from ledge to ledge, trying to get up there. As soon as they got up to the ledge, they were shocked at the scene they saw.

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"Awright! We're all ready to git the hell out of here!" Cid proclaimed loud enough for anyone who cared to listen to hear.

Yuffie bounced happily, high-fiving Aerith, while Leon and Cloud shared a celebratory kiss.

"We're off to Hollow Bastion!" Yuffie said excitedly.

Aerith looked at Cid in curiosity. "Are you sure we should go there? I hear there's a lot of trouble with Heartless around there."

"Exactly," Leon said, looking up from Cloud, who was still contentedly in Leon's strong arms. "I'm not entirely convinced Kairi and, if they made it, Sora and Riku would survive up there. That's why we need to go and help them."

"Exactly. We can't be losin' no Saviors of Worlds, now can we? So git yo ass in the Gummi Ship, pronto."

As they boarded the train, Cloud couldn't help but get a little bit nervous. He had the worst feeling, somewhere deep in the pit of his stomach, that the shit was about to hit the fan.

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The wild, ferocious beast limped towards the thirteen-year-old redhead, clutching his chest, growling fiercely. He reached out his paw, almost asking for her to stop. She didn't. She merely slightly giggled, then slashed him once more with her oh-so-feminine-looking Keyblade. He fell to his knees with a loud grunt.

"This thing really packs a punch," she told herself happily. She then turned to the animal in front of her, frowning in disgust. "You …what could lead you to the illusion that you could defeat me, anyways?"

"I…I came here…" the beast gasped out, "to see Belle. I will, even if it kills me!" He growled the last part with an intimidating amount of rage.

"Really…well, we'll just have to see about that!" She lifted the Keyblade, about to deliver a final blow, when-

"Kairi!" Two boys called out, rushing up. Riku and Sora got to the top platform, to find Kairi, about to find Kairi. Kairi caught their eyes and, without a moment's hesitation, shoved the wounded beast out of the way. An evil grin grew on Kairi's face. "So, you've decided to show up. About damn time."

Sora and Riku glared. "What's gotten into you, Kai?" Riku asked. He then shouted, "We used to be friends! What did I-no, we do to break that friendship?"

Kairi glared at him. "Don't try to play the victim, Riku. You stole what I should be back on Destiny Islands, holding in my arms, while you sulk God-knows-where. And now look where we are. All because you had to covet what was mine." Sora was pretty sure Riku's attraction to Sora hadn't caused the cataclysmic turn-of-events that had occurred on that final night on the Islands, but he let it slide.

"I love him. I have never loved you, Kairi," Sora firmly said, with more strength and valor than he knew he had. "Back off. You have no right to be angry at Riku for what you have failed to be." _Namely, male._

"Sora," her voice took on a tender, motherly, honey-like tone that neither boy fell for, "your love with Riku isn't right. You've always been one to do the right thing, to follow what would be morally correct, haven't you? Are you really going to trash your morals and further more, your reputation, just for…"

"For my best friend? For the love of my life? If you really knew me, Kairi, you'd know that the answer is an obvious 'yes.'" Sora shot back.

"Besides, you arbitrarily attacked this…erm, animal?" Riku motioned in question to the hurt being, who merely grunted and nodded. "Animal. You shouldn't be casting stones about what's right and what isn't."

Kairi's stare at Riku could have come straight from the depths of hell themselves. "Oh, like you're one to talk, you faggot!"

"Hey!" Sora said with just as much emotion. "Nobody talks to Riku like that, you…you…YOU BITCH!"

All was silent. Anyone that knew Sora knew that he almost always donned his cheery smile, his upbeat attitude, thereby making him immune to cursing at people. One would have to get him extremely angry for him to utter the tamest of curses. For him to shout, "YOU BITCH…" that was basically unheard of.

Kairi, after this elongated moment of silence, turned to Riku calmly, and said, "Now, see, you've got him worked up. Tsk, tsk. You are a really bad boyfriend, Ri-kun."

"Really?" Riku asked condescendingly, his eyes narrowing to slits, as he decided that he's had enough of this. It was time this insanity ended. "Well, we'll just see about that!" Without really knowing what he was doing, he took a step backwards with his right foot. The muscles in his hands tensed and shook, as a ball of energy, not unlike the ones on the tips of their KeyBlades, formulated in his hand. In the blink of an eye, he shot the orb in Kairi's direction. Kairi put a hand up, in a sad attempt to block the orb.

Then, a loud, deep voice boomed from nowhere, "The girl goes nowhere."

A force-field developed in front of Kairi, effectively reflecting the orb of light. Footsteps were heard behind Sora and Riku. They turned around, not after seeing Kairi grin, as if familiar with the person behind them. Before either could react, the man had swept Sora off of his feet and dragged him, bridal-style, over to Sora. Kairi grinned triumphantly as the man threw Sora down on the ground roughly. Sora tried to get up and run back to Riku, but he was restrained by a black creature, much like a far stronger version of the Shadow Heartless.

Kairi turned to Riku. "Know this. I always, no matter what, get what I want."

Riku looked positively heartbroken. "But…" His eyes darted to the man who had kidnapped Sora right in front of Riku's eyes. He was tall, taller than any of the teenagers were, just as tall as the almost-forgotten wounded beast who sat off to the side, watching this tense scene unfold. Riku could not discern any facial features about him, nor anything that was remarkable about him. Hell, he couldn't even tell if the figure was male or just a very masculine female. Riku just assumed it was male.

As if Riku looking at him (it) was some sort of cue, the being brought his hand up, and concentrated on it. "It's time we add insult to injury." He growled. Without further warning, the KeyBlade in Riku's hand disappeared with a beam of light, reappearing in the man's hand. The man handed the blade to Kairi, who merely chuckled, and muttered, "Maleficient was right."

"But…that's impossible! The KeyBlade is MINE! Sora is MINE!" Riku shouted in desperation.

"Yours?" Kairi laughed a sharp laugh. "You were just the delivery boy." With that, the man in the brown cloak led Kairi off. Just before reaching the edge of the cliff, she raised a hand, effortlessly stopping the man in the brown cloak from moving. She then laid her palm out flat in front of the man. He dug around, as if this was some sort of known cue, in his cloak, pulling something out of his cloak.

The man was holding a wooden sword, like the ones that Riku and Sora used to duel with back on the Islands. Back when things weren't like this. Back when his existence meant something. Those were his favorite times. And now look at the three of them. Kairi had resorted to kidnapping Sora, taking him from Riku.

The man threw the wooden sword on the ground in front of Riku, as Riku slowly dropped to his knees. "Here, go play hero with this." Kairi said sardonically. With that, Kairi walked forward, the mysterious man following close behind, and they boarded a lift, which carried the two up in the direction of the looming castle that lay ahead.

Riku's gaze fell to the floor. He was…alone. It's not like the feeling was unfamiliar to the boy. After all that had occurred in Monstro, he should have been used to the concept of going solo. However, something was…off this time. Maybe it was the heartbreaking factor that he thought he would have Sora by his side for eternity, only to get shafted and robbed of the adolescent.

Riku's hands shook violently. He sprung to his feet, grabbing the wooden sword swiftly. "It's not fair, damn it!" he shouted, swinging the sword at nothing in particular. "Sora was MINE! I was far more than a delivery boy! He loved me! Kairi had no right to take him!" Without further warning, he ran to the lift that had just taken and boarded it.

Riku breathed heavily, tired, angered. He was so overcome with emotion, he hardly noticed that there was a large being right behind him. "So…" it growled, causing him to jump slightly, "it seems like your heart has led you to the truth." Riku smiled slightly, nodding. It was certainly tall, Riku guessed it was about seven feet tall. It was coated in brown fur. It had dark brown eyes that were seemingly cold and apathetic, but if one looked hard enough, they could find a light that never went out, a motivation to live, a spark that gets it through their days.

"Who…are you?" Riku asked, slightly intimidated, but the key word in that is 'slightly.'

The thing grunted. "No time for formalities, call me Beast."

Riku was silent for a second. "Riku."

The Beast looked at him strangely, then, understanding, he looked straight ahead. "You fight for the girl, no?"

Riku looked awkwardly at him. "Erm…sure…that works."

The Beast looked at him. "The boy?" Riku gave a sheepish smile. "No worries. To each his own, I think," the Beast growled. "I came to fight for Belle." Riku could only assume that this was a lover of some kind to the Beast. Lord only knows how he has a mate. Riku immediately kicked himself in his head. That was cruel. Oh well.

The Beast, completely oblivious to what was going on inside Riku's head, continued. "I am not going home. I either get Belle or die. I suggest you do the same." He looked at Riku, who nodded firmly. That had been Riku's plan, anyway.

They reached the top, and, without further warning, they jumped off, and started attacking all Heartless that appeared. Riku felt himself welling up with rage, slowly, surely. Suddenly, he just burst. He let out a long, continuous scream. And then…

I believe the correct term is "going apeshit."

Riku "went apeshit" on the Heartless.

Unveiling new powers and untapped strengths all at once, he swung blindly at the Heartless that were there, plus the variety of those that would appear. For the ones that were, in essence, floating balls of darkness, he used standard ground attacks. For the Heartless in suits of armor, Riku would use jumping attacks, to get past the giant shields with snapping jaws the monsters carried. For the fiends that were airborne, Riku summoned balls of blue energy, and hurled it at the beings.

Before long, without a terribly large exertion of force, all was quiet outside the colossal castle. Riku, panting heavily, could only stare in awe at his body, wondering where all that power had come from. He looked at the Beast confusedly, hoping for a satisfactory response to the question…

"What…the hell was that?" he asked as they walked into the castle.

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Ansem's Report V

We all have an equal balance of light and dark inside of us. In most cases, one is kept in check by the other, causing us not to be reckless, irrational, or downright savages. This is why most of us can live in relative harmony, and not fly off the handle.

One would be surprised as to how simply this balance can be disrupted.

What we just saw come out of Riku, the more sadomasochistic, bloodthirsty, pain-craving side of him that just burst through the shell that is Riku, was released due to a mixture of rage, exhaustion, and hormones. It hurts to lose a lover, I know for a fa I would be willing to bet. Some would mourn the loss of a lover, but Riku has never been one for gloom. He was incensed when Sora was taken from him. When this was combined with the overall exhaustion he felt from all the stress that had come down on him at once, and the fact that he's going through puberty, and hormones are constantly raging insidee He unveiled powers that he never knew he hadHe unveiledhar of him, saying he's a force to be reckoned with is the understatement of the century.

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They pushed their way through the large castle doors. Inside was a massive room. The ceiling almost seemed to stretch up for eternity. A small fountain stood in between two flights of stairs, both leading to a floor with two doors. Riku didn't have time to stop and take in the beauty of the place he was in, because right in front of him, stood…

"Kairi!"

There Kairi stood, alongside her stood the man in the black hood. He was holding out an arm, blocking Sora effortlessly from escaping where he stood, which was behind the figure. Kairi stared at Riku with a cold sneer on her face. "Look at you, Riku. Look at the weak being you've become. Now that I've stolen the KeyBlade, and now that I've stolen your man, what are you?"

"I'm not as weak as you think," Riku practically whispered, requiting Kairi's cold gaze. "The man with nothing but a strong heart will always overpower the person with everything including a weak heart, or worse yet, without a heart."

Kairi stare turned colder, which Riku, up until that point, had thought would have been impossible. However, he was proven wrong. "Oh, is that so? Well, then take THIS!" With that, she hurled the Keyblade, spinning so fast it looked like an eternally twirling vortex, towards Riku's head. Riku nonchalantly caught it. In a trice, the tables had turned. Kairi gaped and watched as Riku simply flicked his wrist, bringing the Keyblade down to his side, all while smirking, gratified by the success of his actions.

While Kairi ogled the sight she just witnessed, she hardly noticed as Sora walked slowly walked behind her, and

_Whack!_

Kairi fell to the ground, clutching her back. Sora ran over to Riku, the man in the black coat behind Kairi looking on in total shock. _How the hell could that kid move so fast?_ Oh well, no matter. He tapped Kairi on the shoulder, and told her that he had to go attend to…other matters. She nodded her understanding, and he walked out of the room. Meanwhile, Riku and Sora were in front of her, Keyblades drawn.

It was here that Kairi faced a decision. So as to not make the explanation too prolix, I shall condense it into two options:

Option A: Fight for her life, two-against-one.

Option B: Turn her tail around and run for her life.

Without further thought she drew her Keyblade, wheeled around in a successful 180, and ran the other way, shouting over her shoulder, "you haven't seen the last of me!"

As she ran, Riku and Sora simply stood there. "Should we follow her?" asked Sora curiously.

Riku shook his head and smiled. "Nah," he said, putting his hands over his head and locking them comfortably, "she'll be back." He turned to Sora, a concerned look on his face. "Are you all right?"

Sora grinned and nodded. He moved a little closer to Riku, putting his arms around the boy. "I missed you," he whispered quietly.

Riku laughed. "Oh yes, dear Sora. That five minutes away from you…I about KILLED myself!" He slid his finger down his cheek, symbolizing a teardrop.

Sora punched him in the arm. "Shut up, meanie." He pouted. Riku smiled, and gently kissed the pout, trying to tenderly eradicate the negativity. Sora giggled, and kissed back, deepening it by allowing his tongue to flirt with Riku's lower lip. Riku moaned, but quickly pulled away as crashing sounds were heard in the distance.

Riku smiled. "Let's save the whole making out thing for somewhere where we're not constantly in grave danger. Now, come on." With that, he took Sora's hand, and towed him up the stairs and into the next room, Sora stumbling just behind him.

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The man in the black cloak stepped forward slowly, as if to emphasize the importance of each step. _Finally, I can pull back this damn hood._ God, it could get hot in there.

With that, he brought his hands slowly to his hood, and removed it. He let his lengthy, complicatedly hair, which had previously been tucked into his cloak, flow naturally. It was long, silvery-white, and, in his own opinion, quite striking. The hair flowed down to his shoulder-blades, while hairs stuck out above his ears on either side, spiking back. This he used hair gel for, and did it on purpose. It looked badass, almost…villain-y.

The rest of him hardly looked average, either. He had a muscular, tan, very masculine build to him. His jaw was square-ish looking, his ears large, his eyes orange. He wore a black and dark blue cloak, with a white bustier underneath. This was his secret shame that he was constantly ridiculed for- he just couldn't seem to leave the house without wearing something that belonged on a female. Oh well, back to the description. He wore blue pants, and long, pointed, black boots. He had the tattoo of the Heartless symbol, which was a black, elegant-looking heart broken into four small segments, printed on his chest. His name was Ansem.

Ansem walked up the time-consumingly large flight of stairs to get to the top. The room he was in was peculiar. At the base, it had seven blue coffins with blue flames in torches surrounding these. As one proceeded into the room, they would encounter a flight of stairs, which led to a platform, then there were two flights of stairs that led up to the top platform, which had a variety of ominous-looking machinery. There were other levels to the room, but one would have to be able to fly to reach those. Up another flight of stairs was what appeared to be a heart-shaped portal.

As Ansem reached the top, he turned and, with the ever-so-rare for him smile, proclaimed loudly, "O purest of hearts, reveal to me the Keyhole!"

The women in six of the seven coffins (the seventh one being empty), had the area around their hearts light up. As the light gathered energy, all six simultaneously shot a beam, creating a cone above the base of the room. Ansem smiled expectantly, but the smile faded after about twenty seconds when nothing past that happened. He then scowled in thought.

_The Keyhole remains incomplete. A princess of heart still sleeps. But who? Who could-_

Ansem's face lit up in discovery. "The girl…"

"What do you want?" came the sassy reply from directly behind him. Slightly surprised, Ansem turned, only to face Kairi.

Ansem smiled. "Sora and Riku beat you, eh?"

Kairi snorted. "More like out-smarted me. You were there, you saw the majority of what happened. All you missed was me running. Like a _coward._" She looked down as she said the last part, ashamed of her actions.

"You know, there is a way to become more powerful." Ansem hinted, a smirk pulling his face.

"Tell me."

"I must warn you first," Ansem said, maintaining the tone of someone who is about to share their deepest, darkest secret with a best friend, "how you perceive your friends is dependant on your own heart. Are you sure you won't just…accept the love your friends share for each other?"

Kairi glared at him, as if Ansem was the SoraxRiku love, in person form. "Absolutely not." She drew her feminine keyblade, the yellow one with flowers and overall euphoria-causing objects, though she was in anything but a joyful mood. "Kairi changes for nobody. Not even my be- my EX best-friend and EX lover. Besides, he'll come full circle back to me, even if I have to make him come around."

Ansem smirked. _Raging fool. _"In that case, open your body to darkness, become darkness itself."

"But…I don't know how to do that." Kairi said quietly.

Ansem's smirk grew. _I correct myself. Innocent raging fool. _"It's quite simple, really." Ansem continued, as he summoned a Shadow Heartless. "Now then, drop your weapon, and beckon for the shadow to come to you."

As the processions continued, Ansem could only stand their grinning. _Victory is upon us, my fellow being of darkness, _he said to the Shadow.

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Riku and Sora ran up the long flight of stairs, both wondering if the stairs really had to be so lengthy. Couldn't the builders have made this more convenient? They imagined that many people used to walk up these stairs, so couldn't they make the stairs a little more simplistic?

No matter. They reached the top, and saw Kairi, her back turned to them. "Sora…" she said calmly, her voice perfectly in sync with a much deeper one, which Riku and Sora couldn't find the source of.

"Kairi, where's the man you were with?" Sora asked.

"I will ask you one final time," she continued, as if nothing else was happening.

"Answer him, damn it!" Riku cried.

"Will you be my boyfriend, through thick and thin, for better or for wose, from here through eternity?"

Sora had evolved over the course of the journey. In the beginning, he had always placed the feelings of others over his own desires. But things had changed drastically such that he now felt the power within to say…

"Unless you're harboring a dick under that mini-skirt, the answer is no."

Riku snorted, stifling laughter. Kairi looked down the ground in dismay, hurt by once again feeling rejection. "Very well," she said slowly. With that, she extended her right hand. Tufts of darkness enshrouded it, and out of the black abyss came a blade. It was jet black, pointed at the end, red on the handle. Next to it's tip was a black rose with five of its petals missing, three still intact.

"Is that…?" Riku began.

"Yes," Kairi finished, smirking satisfactorily, "a KeyBlade. But unlike yours, this holds the power to unlock people's hearts." Kairi held her delicate hands up to the sky, while continuing. "Allow me to demonstrate…behold!" Without further warning, she hurled the KeyBlade towards Sora's chest. Sora brought his key up, in an attempt to block it.

This time around, however, he was just a half-second too late.

The key struck him solidly in the chest. Kairi grinned malevolently, while Riku shouted, "Sora!" Yet he stood paralyzed by fear.

Sora, as if in slow motion, fell to the floor. Seven balls of light emitted from his chest. Six of them went to the coffins at the base of the room, and at chest level of the occupants inside the coffins, it sparkled. The seventh floated over to Riku, and after orbiting him once, it slipped under the skin protecting his heart.

As if he had been waiting for this as some kind of cue, he sprung into action. He dove to catch Sora as he fell, but just as Sora was about to fall into his arms, Sora burst into countless little balls of light, and they rose up to the heavens, disappearing through the high ceiling of the room.

After a moment of silence, Riku asked the inevitable rhetorical question. "Sora? Are you really…no…I won't let him go!"

Riku glared at Kairi, who was chuckling softly, madly, like a serial killer saying that, in retrospect, they regretted nothing. "Poor boy. Now that Sora is gone, forever falling in the world of darkness, never again to see the light, so are you blinded by your past ignorance. You are alone in this world now. After all, who did you have besides that boy?"

Riku looked to the ground in desperation. He knew she was right. Sora was all Riku had left. The boy was Riku's ambition, his motivation to keep holding on, keep playing the twisted game called life. What now? There was really only one thing left to do.

A rumble started in Riku's lungs, working it's way up his windpipe, and being released through his mouth in the form of a long, continuous scream. His two hands disappeared. One was engulfed in light, one in darkness. From the two lights, or lack thereof, came two KeyBlades. One was his normal KeyBlade, the other was new, much lighter in color. It resembled a sword, but it had what looked like golden and brilliant white cobwebs around the base. Near the tip, there was a heart with three sharp palm leaf-shaped prongs sticking out from it.

Riku thought nothing of it, and instead sprung for Kairi, attacking her maliciously. Not in any particular form of attack, mind you. He swing rather blindly. Left, right, left, right, back and forth until he tasted blood. Pain was of no importance to him. This bitch had to pay for Sora.

The match continued on as normal. Once Kairi began to retaliate, the two forces seemed equal. The tables turned, however, when he tried to hit her over the head, but was blocked. Simultaneously, he swing for the leg with the darker KeyBlade, slicing the leg perfectly. She let her guard down for a second to aid the now bleeding leg, which turned out to be a big mistake, as Riku raised the lighter KeyBlade, and…

SLASH!

Kairi's dark KeyBlade fell to the floor, and she dropped to her knees, her upper half following suit. She supported herself up with her hands.

Riku was about to deliver the final blow, when he stopped, straightened up, and walked forward. Riku picked up Kairi's dropped blade.

"Thank you, Kairi."

Kairi lifted her head in shock after he spoke these words. "What do you mean?" she asked.

"Thank you for everything you've done to get in the way of Sora's and my relationship. It really put things into new perspective, y'know?"

He held the blade out, tip away from himself.

I realized that…" Riku chuckled and continued, "being alone is a bitch. But…" Riku flipped the blade to face his chest. "Riku won't be alone. Not anymore."

Without further warning, he thrust the tip into his chest. Kairi's eyes widened as she watched this.

"The power…to unlock…hearts…huh?" Riku gasped, smiling. I…wonder…what has…been…unlocked…" With that, he fell to the ground. Light and darkness both emitted from his corpse, and when they cleared, the body was gone.

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Secret Ansem's Report VI

A boy forever in the realm of light. A boy on the road to dawn. A fallen angel. A newly born being with a sever identity crisis, and the protective being who is to look after him. Two lovers living the relationship dream, and two who will soon be. A broken secret lover, turning to fighting to alleviate the pain. A man enshrouded in mystery. And finally, two beings who should never be taken lightly. Two organizations, and the people caught in between, in short. How will they all bind together to complete this twisted tale?

They say nobody knows the true heroes until the end of the tale.

They also say not every princess of heart is a princess.

I believe it is high time for an intervention.

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Yeah, that's it. Damn, it took me four months to write this. I apologize. This chapter, I promise to get my ass in gear and not take longer than three months.

As my apology for taking so long, I have included a small segment. Has anyone seen the Red Stripe commercials? No? Well, then go to and type in "Hooray Beer!" Watch a few of them, just to get the feel for the format. Anyways, this segment is based off of those. It's special because it's the first BL thing I ever wrote. And…action!

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_This is much like the epilogue of Kingdom Hearts II, where Sora, Riku, and Kairi receive a letter from the King. The scene starts out with just Sora and Riku sitting on the island which once staged the optional Riku fights in the very beginning of the first KH. Both Sora and Riku are lightly sipping Red Stripe beer throughout the scene. They are staring off into the sunset, about a foot away from each other._

Sora: So, nothing's changed, huh?

Riku: Nope. Nothing will.

Sora: _Sips, then states to think, then turns to Riku_. Riku?

Riku: Yeah?

Sora: I want to tell you a secret that I've been holding since I was about eleven. If you don't feel the same, can you just forget I said anything?

Riku: _Sets the bottle down and leans in, interested._ Absolutely.

Sora: _Pause._ I love you, Riku.

Riku: _Pause, then happily. _I love you too, Sora!

_They lean in to kiss each other, then the camera goes off of them and on to Kairi, who has just emerged from the Seaside Shack._

Kairi: Hey, you g-

_She pauses and gasps. The slow version of "Simple and Clean" starts to play as Sora and Riku make out. Sora is sprawled across Riku's lap, and Riku's hand gropes Sora. Sora slowly drops the bottle of beer in his left hand, and the KeyBlade in his right. Riku stops for a second, and they stare at each other for a while romantically, then go back to kissing each other. Camera goes back to Kairi, as she starts to cry._

Kairi: No…

_She glances up, and is startled to see a man in the Organization's outfit. The man pulls down the hood of his robe. It is the guy from the Red Stripe commercials._

Red Stripe man: Boo Kairi! Hooray Beer!

_As he says this, the words appear in big white lettering. Then a bottle of Red Stripe appears. In the background, we can see Sora and Riku still making out, only with their shirts off this time._

Red Stripe man: Drink responsibly.

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XD I don't even know.


	9. Chapter 9: Triumphant Return

**Author's Notes: **I once again apologize for taking so damn long to update the last one. Hopefully, as I am writing this note before I write the actual chapter, I can write this one out quicker than the last one.

Let's just hope.

**Disclaimer: **No, I do not own Kingdom Hearts. If I did…well, let's put it this way. Riku + Sora + "The Bad Touch" by the Bloodhound Gang the first game.

**Warning:** If you still think this is a clean boyxgirl love story, seek psychiatric care.

Oh, and by the by, there's lemon in this. Don't say I didn't warn ya. ;D

Kingdom Hearts: Altered Promises

Chapter 9: Triumphant Return

The man who walked gently through, or should I say "above," Twilight Town was certainly "different" from the rest of the civilians, who now slumbered safely in their homes. The man almost yearned for a life like that, so simple. Not having to worry about hearts, or anything of that sort.

A red hair gently fell to the ground. Axel looked at it in disgust and contempt. _I'm either shedding or losing my hair, _he thought. _Damn ye, accursed genetics!_

Axel stood on the clock tower overlooking the city. It had to be about three in the morning. What was he doing awake at this hour? Normally, he would be either a) asleep, or b) searching on eBay for (his secret obsession) scented candles. Axel huffed crossly and tried to recollect why he was there in the first place.

_Oh, right. Because good ol' bossy has gone off the effing deep end._

Or so it would seem. Axel had been minding his own business, burning some of Larxene's spare robes, when his boss had burst through the door in a frenzy. "Axel! Give me some of your Axe! I have a da…" he stopped, mouth agape. His eyes had gone from the pile of ashes to the currently enflamed robes, to a pile of robes on the floor with a sticky note beside it saying "to burn," to Axel, who was currently beet red in the face.

The sound that emitted from his boss' mouth sounded disturbingly like a whale in labor with a small planet. His eyes widened, he opened his mouth…

And what followed was a long string of profanity and an assortment of words that seemed rather random to Axel, including "monkey" "crackers" and "cancer." His boss had then proceeded to wheel around and count slowly to five. This was his only methods of calming himself these days, it seemed like. Granted, things didn't get much calmer from there, but hey. At least Mansex hadn't busted out the good ol' light sabers, as he had had when…well, he had first heard the name he had been given- Captain Mansex. You see, Mansex was an anagram for…

Anyways, as punishment, Capt. Mansex had solemnly vowed to completely ruin Axel's life for the next month-and-a-half. Two weeks into this close-to-death sentence, Axel wanted out. Already, the Captain had put smoke detectors in the castle, preventing Axel from burning anything, lest Capt. Mansex know about it, he had confiscated everything in Axel's room that could potentially give him any form of joy, and…the worst of the atrocities.

Captain Mansex had blocked eBay, thereby preventing Axel from buying more of those lovely scented candles.

_Bastard,_ Axel even thought now, a week and a half after el Capitano had done this.

And, the last thing was that, Axel was to do all of the chores that were supposed to be done that everybody loathed with a passion, which included, but weren't limited to- taking out the Organization's collective garbage, doing the dishes, making sure every Dusk is accounted for.

_And, apparently, _Axel continued in his head, _going to some godforsaken clock tower in the middle of Dull-light Town._ Axel had been previously somewhat excited about this assignment, as the boss/Captain of Mansex hadn't been exactly specific on what Axel was to find at this clock tower, but he said it was "of the gravest importance." Hell, for all he knew-

"Mmrf."

"Yeah, I know, I hate it here, too." Axel said nonchalantly in reply. Then, the fact that something else was there struck him. He turned around, only to see darkness, and a mammoth-sized clock. _Nothing out of the ordinary…_he thought. His ears perked, however, as he once again heard noise, and recognized that it was coming from directly behind the clock tower.

_Probably some dumb Dusk, getting completely lost._ Axel thought, though he still broke out into a run towards the sound._ Most likely a rookie. Doesn't know what he's d-_

Axel was wrong. It was a rookie, indeed, but it certainly wasn't a Dusk.

A teenage boy lay in a crumpled heap in front of his feet. The boy was shorter than Axel by a ways, but wasn't exactly young. Though he did have a very youthful-looking face, his body was chiseled rather nicely. The boy had blonde hair, swept wildly, as if he had tried to style it into a faux hawk, but failed, and instead left it, and after a while, it had been swept into his face by the wind. It was feral, and yet, beautiful. The boy's eyes opened, and Axel looked into them as the boy looked up. Ocean blue. Easily the prettiest color Axel had ever seen. Axel felt a swelling in his heart.

And his groin. But that was just because this boy was currently clothes-less. Thanking whatever Gods were up there, he ran to this boy's side, and took the boy in his arms, cradling him.

The boy winced slightly, as if in pain. "Who-are-you?" he mumbled out. He had such a wonderful voice- deep and husky, yet somewhat childlike.

Axel smiled slightly. "I'm Axel. What's your name?" For some odd reason, Axel found it slightly hard to speak.

Perhaps he was getting sick.

The boy looked at him, and after a somewhat dramatic pause, whispered, "Roxas."

_Roxas._ The name echoed inside Axel's head. A thousand different voices seemed to say it- lustfully, happily, bubbly, dejectedly, so many tones. In all of them, the name rang aesthetically.

Axel was snapped out of his thought process as Roxas struggled a bit, like a fish out of water, on it's last breath. Axel put a hand on Roxas' head, and shushed him, whispering, "you need your rest. I know how tough it is on your first day," he murmured sweetly, "and trust me. You need your rest." He ran a hand through Roxas' hair. Part of his brain was asking him what he was doing, but he didn't bother answering. This just seemed too perfect, too cliché romantic, he never wanted it to…

"But…Axel…" Roxas started to protest, but Axel gently put a finger to his lips. Smiling softly, Axel then, to the logical side of his brain's utter horror, did something he never did.

Taking a slow, deep breath in, he melodically, softly sang Roxas a lullaby. "If I don't say this now, I will surely break," Axel began. He closed his eyes, and could almost hear the piano music in the background accompanying this. "As I'm leaving the one I want to save." The logical part of his brain, along with every other part, was now quiet, as if listening intently to the song. Axel softly stroked Roxas' hair, as he continued crooning, "Forgive the urgency, but hurry up and wait," Axel threw in a purposeful voice crack on "hurry," hoping Roxas hadn't noticed he had changed the song a bit. He blushed. What would Roxas think of all of this? _Probably that I'm a freak._ Ignoring this thought, he continued, "My heart has started to separate. Oh, oh. Oh, oh, baby, baby. I'll look after you."

Axel concluded the song, clearing his throat softly to recover from hitting such high notes using such rusty singing skills. He opened his eyes, expecting Roxas to be staring at him as if lobsters were sprouting from his ears. To his astonishment and slight chagrin, he found Roxas asleep. At first, he panicked. _Was I really that bad?_ He asked himself. Then he remembered- the purpose was for Roxas to fall asleep. Mission accomplished.

Smiling to himself, Axel contentedly carried Roxas bridal-style towards a dark portal he had created, leading back to the Castle. He smirked, as he thought, _To think nobody wanted to do this._ Chuckling, he let the darkness swallow him.

That was how it began.

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Excerpt from The Realm of Darkness: Insight Into That Which Is Feared by Dr. Ansem

"Death. Be it outwardly or subconsciously, most fear it. Be it the unknown of what follows that frightens us, or the final immense pain one must have inflicted, or the overall stigma of leaving those one loves, most have a common reason for fearing it. Well, fear not. Though this essay alone cannot cure one from the pain one will suffer, at least it can inform of what follows.

When one dies, they must come to terms with the fact that they will forget their previous life. This is a result of the spirit leaving the body to roam the world, the body being left behind on the planet (soon to become a Nobody), and the heart separating from the body, creating the lovely little beings called Heartless. This leaves a mere shell, filled with memories, which slowly, as if in a line, file out of the body. You will fall forever in the darkness, forgetting everything. Though this may sound scary, fear not, as you will not feel fear, but nirvana- the state of bliss.

There are no ways known to me at the time of writing this which create life eternal. Light, darkness, and nothing are eternal. Life is not. To be blunt, deal with it.

However, there is one way out of the realm of darkness, a method of resurrection.

It is human nature to play favorites. When one asks another a question of preference (for the sake of argument, chocolate or vanilla ice cream), though they may say that they don't care, deep down, deep within their subconscious, they have a very clear preference.

Much like the ice cream, people play favorites with other people, too. This means that, no matter what one may say, deep down, they have someone who is their favorite person. This person is predetermined- dare I say, by destiny, by fate. It is unchangeable.

Now, you may be wondering how this affects death. Well, one is not alone in falling through the realm of darkness. As if it were a never-ending highway, everyone else who died around one's time of death will be falling with that person. If, though this is extremely highly unlikely, one runs into this 'favorite person,' what's left of their hearts, souls, memories, et cetera, collide and combine. I am currently unsure of how this works, but somehow, this combination recreates the forms of the two, effectively resurrecting them.

This, it should be noted, is extremely rare. The… (Pages 151-2)

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Wind swept through the boy's hair softly, like his mother's hand, which she would calmly brush through his hair when he couldn't sleep, as she sung him a soft lullaby. He sometimes missed that old life, though he knew now that the odds of going back to that life were astronomical at best. Still, a boy can dream, can't he?

And dream Riku did.

He opened his aquamarine eyes lazily, glancing around, until the sight he was met with really registered in his mind.

It reminded him of something his friend described earlier, a place he had never been- Manhattan, he thought they called it. Bodies, some lying dormant, some squirming, trying to fight the force pulling them, to no avail. It was pitch dark, except for the occasional skyscraper they all passed, illuminating the darkness, just for a split-second, to expose…more darkness.

_Is this death?_ thought Riku. He wasn't scared, _per se_, as much as he was curious about just what they were all headed towards.

He glanced around at the multitude of people around him. He recognized none of them, which came to him as a relief. There was a particular blonde-haired boy that looked familiar, but he couldn't put his finger on it. He sighed, letting the thought drift out of his mind, and focusing on the boy's blonde hair. It was a light blonde, almost as light as Riku's own…

_Shit._ Riku thought, grabbing frantically at hair that flew behind him, yanking it roughly forward, giving his scalp a slight jolt. Not that he noticed. He stared intently at his hair for a few seconds, before miserably releasing it, as the truth set in on him.

_I'm forgetting things. Everything I once knew is flying out of my brain._

He cradled his head in his hands, and breathed slowly, the nervous knot in his gut loosening. Now that he was dead, he would just have to accept his lack of memory.

Though, he had to admit, he knew he was missing something terribly…

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The silence that echoed across the now practically vacant platform would have deafened the stunned ears of anyone else who had been there. It roared against the golden archways forming a heart, which, as simple and beautiful, was really nothing more than cold machinery. It bellowed to the glowing blue coffins of six young girls. It let out a howl of rage that rushed through the room, all seemingly centered around two bodies that had previously been there.

The man that was there, however, paid no mind. He let out a soft chuckle, which evolved into full-blown cackled laughter, and soon into a maniacal scream of mirth. His glowing orange eyes were positively radiant with joy and success.

It was over. The opposition's strong men were dead. After working so hard to eliminate the boys, after sending them wave after wave of Heartless, after misconstruing the ending point of the portal out of Monstro, almost effectively drowning the two, who knew all he had to do was hurl the Blade at the runt, and the older one would follow? _I suppose there's some truth to the saying that if you want something done right, do it yourself._ _No matter, though,_ he thought contentedly, smirking wanly, _now there's nobody in my path. Not one._

He was right. Not one.

Eleven.

Ansem, turning on his heel, started walking towards the portal leading to the keyhole, which was no longer a pretty array of blue, red, and black, but was dominated by strands of darkness. Ansem smiled. _Soon this world, too, will fall to the eclipse of-_

His thoughts were cut off as he stopped dead. A strange look crossed his face, as if he were struggling, and struggle he did. "Impossible…" was all he could muster the power to say, as he knew exactly what was going on.

Sure enough, appearing in front of his body, arms outstretched boldly, was the twelve-year-old girl known as Kairi, whom had fallen from grace, fallen from her previous virtuous state of Princess of Heart, consumed with rage, emotion, and jealousy. After all, emotion, when not properly dealt with, could destroy a person from within.

Kairi's face was contorted with rage, as she felt insulted, almost walked-on. This man had employed Kairi's help after Kairi had gotten wind of Maleficient's untimely death. This man had promised to carry out Maleficient's agreement, to bring Sora back to her. That had changed, however, once she had let him inside her heart. He had been like a parasite, like a plague. She hadn't been able to control her actions since God-knows-when. How had she even thought that it would be all right to let this man in, anyways? I mean, really. A thirty-year-old man saying he wanted to get inside a twelve-year-old girl's body was pretty damn strange in itself, let alone when it was for obvious malevolent purposes. She should have known better. Kairi made a mental note to kick herself when all was said and done.

"No!" She shouted. Ansem was right there, she need not have shouted, but you could never tell these kinds of things when telepathically guiding your spirit back to your possessed shell of a body after death. "I won't let you use me for this!"

"Back off, little twerp…" grunted Ansem, slightly taken aback that he could be quelled by such a small girl.

He thought no more of this, as he felt a searing pain in his thigh, one that made him crumple into a heap. He looked at his thigh, wondering what had caused this, only to find a large, bloody gash, but no weapon. He was about to shrug it off, when out of the corner of his eye, he caught a glimpse of a spinning black object, heading away from him. Turning his head, his eyebrows shot into his bangs as he took into account what was in front of him. Kairi, meanwhile, just smirked and vanished.

A raven-haired girl leapt up to catch the rapidly-spinning shruiken dexterously in her left hand. A pleasant-looking woman dressed in pink smiled, and said, "Good shot, Yuf!" Meanwhile, a young blonde boy wrapped in the arms of a slightly older brunette, was glaring icily at an older-looking, cynical blonde, saying, "I wish you wouldn't smoke. It's bad for all of us!" The older blonde just snorted, flicking his cigarette, saying "Quit yer bitchin'."

There all of them were. Left to right, all the people Sora and Riku had encountered on their journey had come, as the shining last hope of the masses, to save a forsaken world. There were even some that they hadn't met. From left to right, there stood proudly Cid, Cloud, Leon, Yuffie, Aerith, a man wrapped in red bandages, concealing his identity, The Beast, Merlin, Donald, Goofy, and a muscular Greek man named Hercules. All of them were standing under a banner, reading, Alliance for the Worlds.

His previous expression of mix shock and pain was soon replaced by one of confident malevolence. "So, you want to try and stop me."

Cid rolled his eyes. "No, we're here to cheer ya on while ya fuck up everythin' we have. Whaddya think, ya…?" Here Cid used an expletive that, had the situation not been grave enough to call for it, the others would have been shocked at, as even THAT word wasn't Cid-caliber.

Ansem blinked slowly, his eyes lazily gazing around the opposition. He could take them, no problem. "So, now that the kids are gone, the adults can play." He grinned evilly. His eyes fell on the man in bandages. At first he wondered who it could have been, but then the eyes hit him. His eyes widened slightly.

"We meet again," he simply stated, calling forth the most powerful Heartless monsters he had the energy to summon.

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Riku's eyes lazily blinked open again. He was half-expecting to be hit by the salty ocean breeze of…erm, wherever he was from. Alas, he wasn't. In it's stead, he had to slightly recoil as he found his face buried in something pointy yet furry, like a porcupine. Only the needles sticking out of this porcupine-like creature seemed almost organized into little mountainous spikes.

Riku's face shot out of the lump of now slightly-messy hair. He recognized that hair. Glancing down the young boy, he recognized him immediately. Large shoes…outfit that was predominantly red and blue. Yes, it was all coming together, like a jigsaw puzzle.

"…" Riku's excitement was suddenly quashed as he came to a horrible realization. He knew this boy meant a great deal to him, but he could neither place how they were related, or even the boy's name. _It starts with an "S," I know… _He wrung his hands anxiously, waiting for a name to pop into his head. Well, it wasn't really a matter of waiting for _a_ name to pop into his head, as much as it was waiting for _the _name to pop into his head. He had thousands of names swimming around frantically in his mind, trying to see if they were the right label for the boy. _Sean? No. Samuel?...No. Sarah? Oh, damn it! What the hell am I thinking?_

Soon thereafter, though, all thought came to a screeching halt. The boy's eyes blinked open in the same lethargic manner Riku's had. The eyes of the boy were downright stunning. Blue. Blue like the sky Riku used to gaze up at, when he was younger and, y'know, alive. Blue like the sea, if you looked way out in the distance, but not up near shore. Near shore, the color much resembled Riku's own eyes.

They boy blinked a couple of times but, without any real warning, locked eyes solidly with Riku. Riku felt his breath hitch slightly, as they came to understand their situation. Emotions clashed as they met each other's gaze, a clashing that resulted in utterly neutral expressions on both their faces. Finally, Riku managed to elicit, like he had just learned a foreign word, and was slowly testing how it felt to say…

"Sora."

Sora smiled, pleased. "Riku."

They pulled each other into an embrace, and locked lips. It's not like they hadn't done this before, but there was something extraordinary about this one. Perhaps it was as though their lips were channels of their anxiety about what loomed ahead. Their condemnation to an eternity of falling through darkness dissipated in their minds, until not a fragment of strife about it was left. Their emotions turned existentialistic, as if they weren't the world, but they were all that mattered in it. The kiss got downright steamy, as they let their tongues spar in their mouths, as if it were a War of Love. They finally separated, both grinning like idiots, as light engulfed them both.

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The cigarette unhurriedly, as if in slow motion, fell to the ground, tumbling out of Cid's wide open mouth, hitting the shag carpet with a very dull "piff." There stood the Alliance of the Worlds, surrounded by hundreds of dark Heartless. They stood on two legs, were entirely black, had antennas growing out of their heads. They looked like a more evolved form of the basic Shadow Heartless. "Neo-shadows," the man in bandages gasped in shock.

The Alliance was silent, as Ansem cackled evilly at what was no doubt a shocked expression plastered on the faces of all of them. He turned to the man wrapped in bandages. "Now what are you going to do, old man? You're outnumbered!"

"Don't call him old!" roared Merlin ferociously, though he recoiled slightly as everyone in the Alliance gave him a strange look, wondering what had caused that outburst. The man, meanwhile, just looked at him, the slightest twinge of thanks showing in his eyes, then turned back to Ansem. "Numbers," he said in a drawling voice, with a hint of an English accent, "are no match for Quality. Any way you slice it…Ansem…the truth remains- you will not succeed."

Ansem's confident face quickly turned to a scowl. "Really? We shall see what we shall see, then." With a raise of his hand, all the Neo-Shadows pounced on the group. They drew what weapons they had at the time, and begun to counter the Neo-Shadows' attacks skillfully.

Not more than five seconds into the fight, however, a flash of light drowned the room. Most of the Neo-Shadows went to wrack and ruin, vanishing into thin air after about three seconds of particles flying from where their bodies stood before. The Alliance shut their eyes, briefly blinded. Ansem fell to his knees, clutching his eyes, and gasping for air.

After about two minutes, the light had vanished, the miracle had been performed. When every person in the room opened their eyes, they feasted their eyes on what they held before them. A great cheer shot up from the Alliance, while Ansem remained neutral, though confusion was subtle yet discernable on his face.

Their lay Sora and Riku, groaning, Sora directly on top of Riku. Both boys staggered to their feet, only to be knocked down once again by an overwhelmingly excited greeting. Who could blame the Alliance for being so excited? After all, this did mean that the worlds weren't doomed after all.

"Y'all right there, spiky?" Cid asked Sora, giving him a solid slap on the back, making him topple back down to the ground, Riku soon following.

"Thank goodness you're all right!" Aerith shouted over the chatter everyone else was making. Meanwhile, Yuffie was boasting, "See? I knew killing them wouldn't be that easy. Didn't I tell you two?" she asked Cloud and Leon , who both grudgingly nodded.

Soon, all their attention was focused on sprinting towards the man who now knelt bewildered in front of the giant Keyhole. They slowed once they reached the platform, and came to a halt directly in front of him. Sora and Riku placed their Keyblades at his neck, ready to decapitate him on the order of anyone in the group.

"It's over, Ansem." Riku said, smiling, satisfied that they had finally won. "Maleficient is dead, you're about to die. You have no more allies."

Ansem panted, still recovering from the immense light hitting his body. He looked up and, to everyone's surprise, he was grinning, as he said, "I wouldn't be too sure of that."

The Alliance was too busy furrowing their brows, trying to decode this cryptic forewarning, that they didn't notice a six-foot-five man swooping in from behind them. He was dressed in a dark outfit, mainly black and grey, held together by a medium-sized Heartless emblem, signifying that he was, indeed, in league with Ansem. His swooping silver hair flew arbitrarily as he drew his long, slender sword, aimed it…

And shoved it.

Right in the middle of Leon's chest.

At first, all was silent, as everyone slowly turned on their heel towards Leon to see what was the source of the sickening sound they had heard a second ago, as sword had met body. Cloud let out a long, terrified scream, as Leon dropped to his knees, and dropped down, lying still, barely breathing, his eyes unfocused. His hand was clutched on the handle in his back.

Cloud wheeled around, trying to see who had caused such an atrocity. When he saw, a look of understanding crossed his face, and then of anger.

There stood Sephiroth with poise, grabbing his sword and ripping it out of the still Leon's back.

Cloud's eyes narrowed to slits, tears escaping them. "You monster!" He bellowed, launching himself at Sephiroth, who skillfully ducked out of the way, missing Cloud's drawn sword by inches. Cloud swung again, meeting Sephiroth's as Sephiroth tried to protect himself against Cloud's rage. Swords clashed as the two men, both equal in strength and skill, waged war on each other. At long last, their swords clanked together, as both men pushed on their swords, trying to make the other cave, so the winner could stab the loser of this tug-of-war in reverse of sorts, and finish this matter once and for all. They growled menacingly at each other, seeing if the other would flinch at all at this angry gesture. Neither did. Simultaneously, they both jumped, rocketing out of the building, and up into the sky, to fight through this God-knows-where.

The Alliance, or what was left of it, just stood, gaping, at where they had last seen the two men. Letting their eyes fall back to the floor, and rest on Leon's body, pandemonium erupted. Everyone began talking vigorously, tears forming in most of their eyes.

This chaos went on for a few seconds before Cid, who had been previously standing still, in distress, roared, "SHADDUP!"

All of the driveling died down instantly, as all eyes darted from Cid to Leon to where Sephiroth and Cloud had been fighting. Meanwhile, Cid began his pep talk of sorts, "Y'all need ta get ya heads in the game! Stop natterin' on about how yeh weren't expectin' that ta happen, or what you think Ansem was thinkin'! Focus on what we have ta do now! First of all…" he glanced over to the now-vacant spot where Ansem had previously been kneeling. "…where the hell did that Ansem fella go?"

"Gawrsh, looks like he left!" Goofy said, surprised.

Cid, meanwhile, scoffed scornfully. "No shit, Sherlock. What was yer first clue?" Goofy shrunk back, his nose wrinkled and pointed down, regretting he had ever said anything. "All right now," he said, turning to Leon. His eyes flitted over to Aerith, who was standing right beside him. "Aerith, is he still alive?"

Aerith knelt down, as everyone leaned in, as one leans in when inside a movie theater, as the plot thickens intensely. She touched two soft fingers to Leon's tender neck, covered in hickeys. Riku rolled his eyes. _Cloud would…_ was all he could think of.

Aerith stood up slowly, her face concealed by hair that was drooping tiredly in front of her face. As soon as the group saw her face, they breathed a sigh of relief. She was smiling, which was a surefire "yes, he's still alive."

Cid smiled slightly. "All right, now. Here's what we're gonna do. Sora and Riku," and, reacting to their names being called, Sora and Riku wheeled around, facing Cid, awaiting orders. "If we're gonna stay here, we need it to be safe. Go into that there Keyhole and lock it, quick, before things get out of hand. Leon will stay here, as Merlin, bandage boy, and I will work on trying to make him recover. It's really a toss-up at this point. He could go either way- either come to a full recovery or die. As to Cloud…well, we don't know where he and Seph-ucker-oth are, so we'll just have to hope that Cloud comes out victorious from that fight.

"That leaves Aerith, Yuffie, Beast, Donald, Goofy, and Hercules. Aerith, Yuffie, and Beast, y'all need to go help the newly revived Princesses of Heart," he pointed to six long since forgotten women, stumbling around curiously at the entrance of the mammoth room. "Beast, maybe that girl you was lookin' fer is here." Beast's eyes lit up at the possibility.

Cid then turned to Donald, Goofy, and Hercules. "The rest o' y'all…well, I'd suggest just headin' home. Things might get a bit rough."

"No way!" Donald squawked crossly, folding his arms.

"Yeah," Goofy said with a slight chuckle, leaning against Donald nonchalantly, though Donald gave into the weight, and toppled over, sending Goofy hurtling to the ground with a distressed yelp. As they got back on their feet, Goofy grinned, saying, "we wanna help, too!"

Cid rolled his eyes, reached into his pocket, pulled out a cigarette, and lit it. He paused and looked at it. Remembering Cloud's warning, he threw the cigarette to the ground, stomping on it fiercely. "Fine. Y'all can stay, then. Y'all can follow Sora and Riku, and back them up."

"Actually," said Hercules, "I should probably head back. I'm wanted to perform in some Hercules Cup that Phil arranged." He shrugged. "Anyways, I should probably get back to my ship. Nice working with ya!" He waved behind him, as Hercules strode off proudly. The rest of them shouted various forms of "goodbye" to him, as he opened the door out, and left.

With that cue, they all got to work. Sora and Riku walked up the few steps, which seemed to be made of debris, and proceeded into the Keyhole. Cid, Merlin, and the mysterious man talked above Leon, working out a game plan as to how they were going to heal him. Aerith and Yuffie talked to some of the Princesses, while Beast looked through them for his Belle.

Sora and Riku walked into the Keyhole, closely followed by Donald and Goofy, half-expecting, after all this stress, for whatever higher being that was watching over them to go easy on them. They, however, were sadly mistaken. Before them stood what appeared to be a purple stegosaurus, complete with a horn that was, strangely enough, glowing.

Sora sighed jadedly. "Joy," he said, his voice flat, as he drew his Keyblade. Riku, really starting to resent the world, drew his, too. Donald drew his staff, and Goofy drew his shield. They launched themselves at the beast, as the behemoth, as the beast attempted to crush them to death.

Goofy distracted the beast, running in front of it wildly, waving his arms, shouting, "look at me, scary monster! A-hyuck!" Donald watched from a distance, casting variety of offensive, defensive, and restorative magic from the sidelines. Riku and Sora, meanwhile, jumped on the monster's back and started wailing on it. Riku went for the direct approach of just whacking the horn, which appeared to be the weak spot of the fiend, while Sora devised the clever idea of just hurling the Keyblade at the horn. After getting into a routine of this, they soon felt the beast weaken, it's attacks becoming more frantic, but it's legs becoming less stable.

Twenty minutes and two revivals of Goofy later, the beast crumpled into a deceased heap. Hopping off the carcass, Riku and Sora ran to meet the other two. Donald was healing Goofy, as Goofy griped, "gawrsh, I feel so used, like a pawn."

"Hey, it worked, didn't it?" Riku asked apathetically, a question that needed no answer, as the carcass that lay behind them answered it for them. When Goofy turned to Sora for some reassurance that he was more than just a pawn, Sora merely shrugged, saying, "he's got a point, you know." Goofy's shoulders drooped in a melancholy fashion.

Riku and Sora turned towards the Keyhole, then glanced at each other. Nodding each other's confirmation, they walked towards it a few steps, then stretched out their Keyblades. A blue sphere of light formed over the tip of each one. A beam of light shot out of both of them. The beams collided in the air, tangling in mid-air, spiraling endlessly into the Keyhole, which was soon thereafter locked, which was signified by a loud "click."

Riku, Sora, Donald, and Goofy exchanged satisfied looks, and all four walked out contentedly. Their work there was done.

Line Break! WOOT! Line Break! WOOT! Line Break! WOOT! Line Break!

Riku walked back from the castle's newly established kitchen, massaging his temples, bearing a glass of steaming hot cocoa. _What a day…_ he thought exhaustedly, recapping the day in his mind, playing through what they had done like the highlight reel of a sports game.

After they had locked the Keyhole, they were assigned to venture out, and find as much that could be useful to the remaining eight of the previous Alliance of the Worlds and Sora and Riku. They were supposed to look everywhere they could, and now that the Keyhole was locked, there would be no Heartless to interfere with that.

They had found a surprising amount of stuff. Several queen sized mattresses had been buried under a pile of debris in the room where they had fought Ansem. Additionally, they had found piles upon piles of food, a couple of radios, knives, soap, and some hidden showers. Hell, they had even found thirteen blankets. They had been distributed according to-

Riku screeched to a halt. He could hear distinct whimpering coming from Sora's room. Sure enough, as Riku approached where Sora's bed was, he could see Sora in the moonlight, tears spilling down his cheeks. Riku walked in, set down his coffee mug, and sat down next to Sora, putting a comforting arm around him. He kissed him gently on the cheek, as Sora spoke, in a shaky whisper, "do you think…(sniff) do you think he'll…make it?"

Riku smiled sadly. Seeing Sora so concerned for a friend was touching, to say the least. "I can't say for sure. Ordinarily, you don't survive being stabbed through the chest. Then again, Leon's far from an ordinary guy, right?"

Sora giggled and smiled. He locked eyes with Riku. Riku was slightly surprised. Sora looked even more gorgeous covered in tears than he did any other time.

Sora gulped, and asked another question. "Do you believe in miracles, Riku?"

Riku's breath rate increased slightly. Was he really ready to do this? _What kind of a dumb question is that? Of course I am! It's really a matter of whether or not he is._ He took a deep breath and answered, "How can I not? I'm staring at one right now." With that, Riku pulled Sora closer, and kissed him firmly on the lips. Sora was taken aback at first, but very quickly adjusted to the older boy's spontaneity, and Sora began to kiss back.

Things heated up at an astronomical rate. Before either of them knew it, Riku was on his back, with Sora straddling him. Riku's shirt had been taken off, exposing a muscular chest and a modest six-pack. His low jeans allowed for his accentuated pelvic bones to show, too. He looked like an Abercrombie ad, only better. Meanwhile, Riku had a hand teasingly up the younger boy's shirt, groping the rock-hard abs underneath, worming their way down to the boy's pulsating cock. Riku hungrily ripped off Sora's shirt, and spun around so Sora was beneath him. Riku slowly yet surely removed the silk boxers Sora was wearing as pajamas, exposing his solid seven inches. Riku stared eagerly at it. He had never seen an erect one in real life, besides his own.

While Riku was gazing up and down Sora's perfect body, Sora pushed him back into the submissive position. Riku undid the knot holding up his pajama bottoms, and pulled them down, baring Riku's eight inches. Riku was smirking evilly, as he shoved Sora back underneath him. "Silly Sora," he whispered huskily, "you know I'm supposed to be the dominant one."

Sora giggled, but then gasped as Riku nipped at his neck, while rolling his hips so as to grind his penis into Sora's tight ass. Sora groaned pleasurably, and mumbled something incoherent. "What?" asked Riku

"R-ri-ku, ah, gawd…" Sora groaned.

"If you want something, you'd better ask for it, or I'll get bored of this and stop," teased Riku.

"Frmmph…ahh…." Sora said, being muffled by the mattress.

Riku smiled. "What was that?"

"Fuck me!" Sora hissed.

Riku paused for a moment. It wasn't everyday Sora cursed like that. Shaking it off, he asked, "are you sure that's what you want?"

"Y-yes…please…" Sora moaned.

Riku smiled, butterflies flittering around in his stomach. "Very well. Your wish is my command." Without further warning, he entered Sora. Sora let out a yelp of pain, but just as Riku began to withdraw, Sora murmured, "no…don't stop."

"You're sure…?" asked Riku.

Sora just nodded in response.

Soon Sora's startled cries of pain became whimpers of pleasure which, to Riku's dismay, and probably the annoyance of everyone else in the castle, kept getting louder and louder as they progressed. Riku rolled his hips skillfully, pushing in and out of Sora. Just as Riku was about to climax himself, he felt Sora's small body beneath him tense up, as the screams of orgasm grew louder. He was sure the others had woken up. None of that mattered, though, as both boys simultaneously came, and Riku's thrusts slowed to a halt. Riku toppled on top of him, breathless, and rolled over, so as to be lying right next to Sora. Riku felt at peace with everything around him.

After a while of laying in silence, Sora turned to him, and said, "Hey, Riku."

Riku sleepily looked over at him, as Sora continued. "Do you think we'll be able to stop him? Ansem, I mean."

Riku smiled. Not even the mentioning of their main rival killed his joyful mood. He took Sora in his arms, closed his eyes, smiling, and said, "Sora. I have a dream. It's of us, back on Destiny Islands, just living together, not having to worry about any Ansems or any Heartless. It would just be us. We could get nice little jobs, just enough to support us, and get us a little spending cash. That would be a little piece of heaven." Riku opened his eyes, the smile slowly fading. "I'll always keep pursuing that dream until I get it. I'd give up anything just to get there. And I'll be damned if I'm going to let someone like Ansem stay in the way of that."

Riku and Sora needed no more words. They fell asleep, safe and secure in each other's arms.

Line Break! WOOT! Line Break! WOOT! Line Break! WOOT! Line Break!

There you go! Chapter Nine, four-months-or-so in the making. Sorry it took so damn long to update. I've been getting distracted with this thing, or that, and I just haven't had the time or the energy to write. D:

And I know, I totally murdered the CloudxLeon luffing. But, hey, I threw in an extra lemon scene just to make up for it. Will this be the end of Leon? Will Riku ever get to fulfill his dream? Will Axel ever get to order more scented candles? The world may never know . 

No, seriously. My continuation of this series is contingent upon popular demand. If enough people want it, I'll make this story a trilogy. If not, the whole saga ends in the next chapter I write. Yes, the next chapter **is** the last. D': I've had a hell of a time writing this story, and I don't just mean that in the negative sense. It was fun! And nice to see people review Hint, hint ;D

Anyways, **please** review. And thanks to all who did last chapter. My internet connection is currently fucking up, so I can't go find all of your names.

So, finally, it's almost 2 AM. You know what that means? I'm punchy.

Punchy- _adj._ The state in which one reaches where they're so tired that they're hyperactive.

Thanks to my punchiness, I have just devised the perfect way to end this chapter. Let's take a look at:

What's on their iPods?

Sora: "Easy Breezy" by Utada Hikaru. Sora has a constant positive attitude, though he does have his share of issues. Therefore, it makes sense that he has a bright and cheery song which actually talks about how the artist was used by a former lover.

Riku: "Bring Me To Life" by Evanescence. Just dark enough to satisfy his emo side, while it's subject matter [being saved from the dark reminds him of his relationship with Sora. Brings a smile to his face every time he hears it. Which is quickly replaced by his angry-looking "Rockin' out" face.

Kairi: "Hey! Hey! You! You! I don't like your girlfriend!" 'Nuff said.

Axel: "The War of 1812" by Arrogant Worms. What, and the line, "And the White House burned, burned, burrrned, and we're the ones that did it" wasn't enough to tip you off?

Captain Mansex Xemnas- "Ohh, you touched my tra la la! Mmm, my ding, ding, dong." Once again, 'nuff said.

Roxas: "I Hope You Die" by the Bloodhound Gang. Were you expecting his song to be placid and calm, like his attitude? Ironic, isn't it?

Ansem The Wise: 1812 Overture. Classy, yet badass, ever since it was featured in "V for Vendetta." Good choice, Mr. Wise!

Finally, Axel, for the second time: "You and me baby, ain't nothing but mammals, so let's do it like they do on the Discovery Channel." For the third time in this short segment, 'nuff said.

XD Chapter 10 will hopefully be up soon.

Review plz:D


	10. Chapter 10: Battle For The Worlds

**Author's Notes: **If you're still sticking with me, through the miserably long periods of waiting for an update, congratulations! You've made it to see the epic conclusion. You've braved the totally lame filler chapters, too. You're FanFiction's little trooper :D Now, sit and stare blankly at your computer as the tale unfolds into an exciting chapter, and perhaps an epilogue. We shall see what we shall see.

**ZOMGWTFLOLBBQRABIDFANBOYNEWSUPDATE:**

(August 18, 12:06 AM) News reports have confirmed that, unless popular demand suddenly spikes, odds are there will be no sequel to Undying Lover's less-than-notorious tale, _Kingdom Hearts: Altered Promises_.

Reports have also substantiated that, if there were to be a sequel, it would NOT be entitled _Kingdom Hearts: Altered Promises 2_. It may, anonymous sources say, not even revolve around the series' main character, Sora, but his alluring counterpart, Roxas, and his rocky relationship with a fiery redhead, Axel. There may be other components to this relationship, the author hinted at a press conference, but that will remain under wraps, potentially forever. Seymour Butts, ABC News.

-

So, basically, that's what's up with the story as of now. If I get a substantial amount of reviews insisting that I continue, I probably won't. Even if I do get flooded with reviews, I will probably agree to do it, but postpone it until I finish, or at least make more progress with my other stories, some of which, at the time of writing this, haven't even been shown to anyone.

Anyways, on with the usual junk.

**Disclaimer:** I wish I had something epically comical to say here, but I don't. I just will say that I own nothing- not even this disclaimer. Technically, the laptop it's being typed on at midnight tonight is owned by my father. By association, my father owns this disclaimer.

**Warning: **As you are hopefully already aware, this story contains copious amounts of boy-boy loving. If you don't like it, and have read this far, kindly go to the kitchen, and drink a tall, steaming glass of Shut The F-ck Up. O-: )

Oh, by the way, this chapter is going to be rather somber, so I thought the classic "Line Break! WOOT!" wouldn't cut it. Now, lines are broken with a simple dash.

-Cracks neck, checks that Evanescence is at max possible level on his iPod- And thus, the finale commences.

Kingdom Hearts: Altered Promises

Chapter 10: Battle for the Worlds

"_**All in all, I fear that, whether or not the darkness overtakes the light, not all will experience the fairy tale happy ending."**_**- Secret Ansem's Report 12**

**-**

Bleary eyes awoke to what was sure to be the last day they would.

At least, in this castle.

Riku squirmed, the light pouring into his eyes. Not unlike a teenager, he rolled onto his side, glancing at the sundial in the middle of his room. Yes, his room had a sundial as opposed to a clock. If there was one place in this twisted universe that was more technologically retarded than the Destiny Islands, it was this place. The sundial was in the noon position. Riku smiled drowsily. He had had a fifteen-hour sleep, a welcome respite from the hours on end it seemed like it had been since he had last dozed off.

Of course, the slumber was much enhanced by having slept while clutching, as if to never let go, to a certain insanely-shaped-haired boy. Yes, Sora, the boy who was his savior from the darkness, and, of course, boyfriend, did make sleeping a far more enticing option, especially when it came directly after certain…er, 'relations' they had shared.

Riku beamed. _Speaking of the runt, where is he?_ Chuckling at his own joke, he set off to find Sora, which, considering the mammoth size of the castle, was a considerably daunting task.

Or, more appropriately, it would have been. Had Riku not known exactly where Sora would be, Riku may have taken a good two hours to find him.

Riku casually opened the door to the castle kitchen, and smiled softly, as there Sora was. Eyes fixated on a pan he held securely over the oven, he hadn't taken notice when Riku had so inaudibly entered the room.

Riku closed the door, the volume of that less loud, if possible, than before. Striding over calmly, his smile grew as he neared Sora. He wrapped his arms tenderly around the boy, resting his head on the younger boy's shoulder. He took in Sora's smell. _After all this strife, he still manages to smell like an ocean breeze._ Riku giggled too quietly to be heard. _I'm dating a magician._

"Not now, Riku. I'm tryin' to make you breakfast!" Sora whined as Riku started planting soft kisses up his neckline.

"Fine," Riku said dejectedly, withdrawing his arms, "you're no fun."

Sora whirled around, a fake glare in his eyes, though his lips were curled into a smile. "I didn't say stop holding me."

Riku laughed affectionately. "Fair enough." He bound the boy in his arms once again. Sora smiled softly. He turned to Riku, and whispered in his ear, "don't ever forget. Wherever you go- I'm always with you."

"Huh? Where did that come from?" Riku asked.

Sora giggled. "I dunno. Just…felt like it needed to be said.

Riku smiled, giving Sora a chaste kiss on the lips. The smell coming from the pancakes the boy was cooking up was tantalizing, to say the least. Bending over Sora, forcing Sora to emit an audible groan, Riku snatched a pancake off the pan, and swiftly chucked it into his mouth.

"Rikuuu!" Sora whined. "That was Cid's!"

"What, so you've designated each pancake to each person? OCD, much?" Riku asked through a mouthful, poking his boyfriend in the ribs.

Sora giggled. "No. That was the awkwardly-shaped one."

Riku's left eyebrow, and only his left, shot into his hairline. "And you were going to give Cid that one?"

"He's too cynical for his own damn good." Sora said surely, making a show of crossing his arms.

Riku merely chuckled, ruffling Sora's hair. Sora, in response, grumbled something about hating it when he did that. Shaking his head slightly, he looked at Riku with pleading eyes. "How is it?"

Riku chewed thoughtfully for a minute. He then swallowed firmly and said, "needs syrup."

Sora nodded, and responded with "needs butter, too."

"Needs powdered sugar."

"Needs whipped cream."

"Needs you topped with whipped cream and powdered sugar."

Sora laughed. "What do you mean? Are you going to eat m-oh!" His fleeting look of shock turned to one of chagrin, as he turned back to his pancakes, blushing furiously. Riku only leaned in and whispered seductively into his ear, "exactly." Boisterously laughing at the crimson his boyfriend was turning, he went to fetch him the syrup.

-

Leon lay still on his bed, eyes drooping exhaustedly. Try as he might, though, he could not get himself to fall asleep. Everything in his midsection hurt. The doctors, which had been Cid, the mysteriously bandaged man, and Merlin, had funneled in the painkillers, almost to the point of fatal overdose. However, they had barely done their job. Leon moaned to himself as he felt another stabbing pain shoot through his abdomen.

Suddenly, there was a small dot of light above his head, clearing the darkness. Leon's eyebrows raised slightly. The dot expanded, slowly engulfing the bed Leon lay on, along with the desk, the empty bottle of pills, until the dot had blossomed to contain the entire room. Once this had been accomplished, the light grew brighter and brighter, until Leon thought he was going blind.

"Cloud," Leon moaned, as he, too, was swallowed up in light.

-

Cloud fell to his knees, panting, wanting more air, but just couldn't find the strength to draw it in. Slash marks tore his clothing, while blood stained it. He couldn't open one of his eyes, and blood slowly dripped out of his mouth. He was in horrible condition.

Cloud felt the lengthy sword's tip poke at his neck. Opening his one good eye, he met Sephiroth's confident gaze with his weary own. "It's over, Cloud." Sephiroth simply uttered, bringing the sword back, winding up the final blow. "Nice to have known you."

_I'm not going to die when I'm not with him._ Cloud furiously thought. With that silent cue, he somersaulted back. Sephiroth paused in surprise. Gracefully, Cloud lunged for Sephiroth, launching his last-ditch effort against the man.

Sephiroth should have known that Cloud wouldn't go down without one hell of a fight.

Sephiroth's eyes widened exponentially. Sephiroth thought a lot like Cloud, and he knew exactly what Cloud was trying to pull. What's worse, he knew Cloud enough to know that he was useless against it.

"Omnislash…" he whispered.

-

Yuffie, upon waking up, was met with the pleasant scent of lilacs. She blinked hazily, eyes fluttering around the room surprisingly gently for the young girl. She tiredly tried to find the source of the pleasant smell. Turning her head directly to the left, she found said source.

Aerith was sleeping next to her. She looked extremely serene in sleep, the kind of peace that is only usually reached in death. Breath was gently drawn in through her mouth, tensing her shoulders up slightly, only to have the tension released as she exhaled.

Yuffie smiled softly. They were the textbook definition of an odd couple. Aerith was calm, Yuffie was hyper. Aerith wore mostly pink dresses that covered her, Yuffie wore revealing, entirely black outfits.

Not that Yuffie was complaining. Quite the contrary, she was extremely happy to have Aerith as a lover, be it secret or not, be it right or wrong, be it in health or in sickness. Yuffie had promised Aerith she was hers forever, and Yuffie vowed to stand by that promise. Granted, that promise was made in the midst of… 'activities.' Activities that mothers would not want their sons, and certainly not their daughters to bear witness to. Still, a promise is a promise, and Yuffie was a ninja of her word.

Yes, they were different. But opposites attract, do they not?

-

Meanwhile, directly above the two girls was a scene that was less-than-perfection.

Merlin hurled a pillow at the bandaged man, which was dodged swiftly. Grabbing frantically for another one in his fury, Merlin found nothing, but instead fell off-balance, and tipped over like a sleeping cow victimized of cow-tipping. He lay on the bed, moaning pitifully, through broken sobs. Looking up at the bandaged man, he asked, "Why not? What harm could come of it?"

"Merlin," the almost-British voice spoke, in an almost pleading tone, "you are a man of wisdom. I know this firsthand. Please, think of the consequences of telling all about us."

"Enlighten me." Merlin said, voice dripping with held back rage, daring the other to say something to cross him.

The man sighed. "You are a genius of your time. You have gained the respect of everyone around you. You are, in every sense of the word, miraculous."

Merlin, unimpressed, rolled his eyes. "I didn't ask to be showered in compliments, though all that is flattering. Answer my question…Ansem."

Ansem smiled slightly. "Think on it. What about me? I WAS a genius of my time. People looked up to me, people trusted my studies, people listened to me. Back then, I could have told them that I was really an extraterrestrial, and they would have been apathetic to my flaws.

"Now look at it all. Look at my career, my respect. All shattered because my colleague, _Xehanort,_" he said the name with a voice filled with spite, "used my power for evil. He assumed my name, and used it to take my experiments further than they were ever designed to safely go. These actions of his put the world into what appeared to be everlasting chaos.

"And yet, the general public think that all of these were my own actions. Because this colleague of mine, a man who served below me, a man whom I taught, took my name, the public will forever spite my name, spite my existence, loathe everything that is me. I believe there is nothing I can say or do to change that. I thought maybe I had a chance to turn it around by assisting Sora and Riku. But alas, I now know the truth- my false sins will never be pardoned."

"That's not fair!" Merlin cried, extending his arms dramatically, as if Ansem had any control over the situation.

"The masses have no idea what the word 'fair' means." Ansem the Wise sharply retorted. "They only know what they have been spoon-fed by the news travelers who were passing by would give them. They only know that a man named Ansem is the reason why they cannot live in harmony with the darkness.

"Herein lies the conundrum of your proposal. In light of all of this, knowing that men of utmost civility will seethe at your sight if you outwardly speak of this, knowing that in doing this, you abandon everything you previously knew and loved, you **still** want to be…?" Ansem trailed off at the end.

Merlin smiled gently. "Yes, Ansem. That is what I want, above all else. We have been secretly dating for four ye…"

"I know how long we have been dating." Ansem harshly interjected. Sighing slowly, Ansem collected his thoughts. _The most stubborn man to debate with is a genius._ He closed his eyes. _Or perhaps a genius turned fool._ Turning his back to Merlin, he spoke softly, his voice cracking occasionally. "I hate throwing this word around, I truly do, but…I love you, Merlin. I love everything about you- your smile, your laugh. You are the living proof that beauty can still blossom at an old age." Merlin strode towards him, taking this as a yes.

"This is exactly why I cannot, Merlin. Don't you see? I love you too much to let you get dragged into this. I'm sorry."

"Discretion is for cowards!" Merlin pleaded. "It takes true valor to come forward. Ansem…I'm five hundred and seventy five years old. I'm fairly certain I can decide for myself."

Ansem paused giving it a moment's thought. "I'm sorry, Merlin. I just…cannot find the willpower to do that."

Merlin opened his mouth to rejoin that, but realized quickly- there was nothing he could say that could change his mind. Sighing heavily, Merlin forced the words out of his mouth- "fine. You win. But if you ever change your mind, if by some miracle you gain the public's trust again, and you decide you can be seen with me- you know where you'll find me."

With that, Merlin trudged out of the room. Ansem heard the door closed, and a tear stained the bandage surrounding his right eye. Laying back down onto the bed, he buried his face in the pillow, falling asleep.

Next to the bed, lay the objects Merlin had been previously holding- a bouquet of white roses, the petals of which were now strewn across the floor, and a black box containing an engagement ring, which, as one can tell, was to be worn nevermore.

-

Cid sat in the large leather seat, in front of a computer, monitoring two things at once- large readings of darkness and Leon's health. Donald and Goofy sat in the corner. Goofy had found a piece of lint in his pocket, and was playing some form of hand soccer with it, where he used his index and middle fingers to create two men who kicked the lint around, and occasionally scored goals, which would cause Goofy to let out a loud "a-hyuck!" Donald merely was stewing over having to sit up all night, waiting on 'this Cid palooka' hand and foot. What's worse, whenever Donald would ask anything other than a variant of 'what can I do for you?' Cid would snort, and respond with a cynical "shut yer trap."

Cid, meanwhile, stared at the computer, but wasn't focused on anything in particular. He hated being in the direct middle of the castle, where he could hear everything that was going on. Tonight, he had heard moaning coming from Sora and Riku's room (a sound he definitely did not want to hear), screaming coming from Ansem the Wise's room, snoring coming from Yuffie and Aerith's room, and fragmented breathing and sobs coming from the bed Leon lay in. Cid sighed loudly. Turning to Donald and Goofy, he asked, "Have yew ever wunnered what it's like to be in a relationship?"

Donald and Goofy looked at each other inquisitively, wondering where this had come from, before turning back to Cid and giving a simultaneous negative shake of the head. Cid merely half-smirked. "Figgers." He said plainly, turning back to the computer.

As if on cue, the computer started beeping rapidly. Sirens also went off on it. "Holy shi…" Cid let out, typing rapidly, while also addressing the other two in the room. "You two!"

Donald and Goofy jumped to their feet. "Gawrsh, what's wrong?" Goofy asked panicked.

Cid snorted. "A lot. Leon's heart rate is off the charts, and we are gettin' strong darkness readin's emitting from the kitchen. Donald- go wake up Aerith, and tell her to git her small ass in here. Goofy, wake everyone else up, and tell them to meet in the kitchen, and go tell Sora and Riku what's going on. If Riku described Sora accurately, Sora should be in the kitchen now. Riku should be there, too. Tell them it's showtime. Hurry!"

Donald and Goofy scurried out of the room, both running their awkward runs, Donald bent over, and Goofy's top half lagging behind the bottom. Cid, meanwhile, turned back to the computer, and puffed away at his cigarette, while quietly repeating to himself, "Showtime."

-

Riku reached into the dented oak cabinet calmly, slowly, fetching the syrup for his boyfriend's pancakes. Feeling around briefly, passing up vinegar and olive oil, he found the handle for the amber, delicious maple syrup. Smiling contentedly, he shut the door, and turned around.

Only to come face-to-face with their mortal enemy.

Riku staggered back, letting out a startled yelp, slamming into the oak cabinet behind him. "Riku, what's wro…" his mouth dropped when he saw just what was wrong.

Ansem grinned, flaunting pearly white teeth. "We meet again." He stated simply. He walked towards Riku slowly, a malevolent smirk planted on his face. "I'm quite hungry for a kill." His hands slowly wandered up to shoulder-height, spread apart just thick enough for Riku's neck to fit into. Riku stared at him, terrified.

At least, until a certain breakfast food hit Ansem in the back of the head.

Ansem slowly turned on his heel, trying to see who had tossed that. Once Riku saw the flat food stuck to Ansem's hair, he burst into fits of laughter.

There, in Ansem's direct line of sight, was Sora, nonchalantly tending to a frying pan. "You sure you aren't in more of a…oh, I don't know…pancake mood?" He asked, a leer plastering his face.

Ansem scowled at the boy. "Do you have any idea who you're dealing with?"

Sora's sneer grew wider. "Well, they can't be that threatening, with breakfast food stuck to them." Riku's laugh got louder in response to this.

Ansem furiously ripped the pancake off of his head. Stewing, he summoned his guardian, a muscular looking being of darkness. He looked almost like a genie, although he was wrapped in bandages.

Now, it was Riku's turn to take a poke at Ansem. "So, to recap, we have a man with breakfast food attached to him, and a guardian who looks like he's into bondage. Look out, Sora! They'll feed you and sex you simultaneously."

Ansem was glowing red by this point as Sora cackled delightedly. With a flick of his wrist, in the hope of silencing them for good, he commanded the guardian to leap towards Sora, hand outstretched, wanting to claw the light out of him, and the guardian obeyed willingly. Sora summoned his Keyblade, and blocked it's hand. Retaliating with a furious swing, he found it bounced off the being's chest.

While Sora distracted both the being and Ansem, who watched the fight as a moviegoer watches a movie, Riku snuck behind Ansem. Drawing his Keyblade, he raised it, and struck him firmly in the back. Ansem stumbled forward, but only for a split second. Summoning a shield made of what appeared to be lasers, he charged forth towards Riku. Riku felt his body being sliced by the lasers. When he stumbled out of it, parts of him ached, though he wasn't in terrible pain. Riku whirled around, and delivered a critical combo to Ansem's back. He heard Ansem cry out in pain.

Meanwhile, Sora was still distracting the monster, and now thanking whatever gods were listening that the room was so big. Now, the monster had plunged underground, and was shooting up at Sora with short bursts of energy. Sora rolled out of the way of each one, even continuing when he got extremely dizzy. The energy beams stopped firing briefly. Sora stood, and was trying to get steady, when the being appeared behind him. It picked him up, and literally wrung him, almost as if attempting to squeeze some kind of juice out of him. Sora howled in pain, but soon got out of it, jumping and doing a backwards somersault, landing on his feet. The monster then went back to trying to claw his face off, albeit unsuccessfully.

Riku, meanwhile, was, in short, getting his ass kicked. Ansem was rocketing back and forth around the room, with some form of blue shield surrounding him, like a ball one puts their hamster in. This caused Riku an extreme amount of pain when it hit him, which was considerably frequent. "Sora…" he uttered. Though Sora was busy with his own problems, he sensed Riku's pain. Call it uke's intuition. He rolled out of the path of destruction being caused by Ansem's guardian, and pointed his Keyblade up to the sky. "Heal!" He shouted, penetrating the screams of pain and fury that filled the room. Riku's pains disappeared, almost in an evaporating feeling. He turned to Sora, and nodded his thanks. Then, Sora and Riku turned back to their opponents.

Riku kept a steady cadence of blows raining on Ansem, who struck back less and less as time wore on. After what seemed like days of these hits, Ansem rocketed back, catching his second wind, continuing his zipping back and forth around the arena. He was about to collide with Riku firmly, which may just have finished him, but he never knew if it would, as he was solidly hit in the face with a shruiken. The star-like weapon boomeranged back to Yuffie, who caught it quickly in her right hand. Riku smiled.

There stood Yuffie, Merlin, the bandaged man and a man he did not recognize. The man was dressed in a red flowing coat adorned with golden patterns around the shoulders, which were closer to mahogany than the rest of the coat. The border where the zipper would have normally been was navy blue. There were three sleeves, two normal ones and one that reminded Riku of a cast. There was one arm in the normal sleeve, and the other in the cast-like sleeve, while the other sleeve lay dormant. The man had a scar trailing down his face, forcing his right eye closed, or so it would seem. The one open eye was hazelnut brown. He had jet black hair, put up in strange spikes. He was bearing a large sword, green at the handle, with a brilliant silver blade. The man met Riku's gaze. "The name's Auron." The man said simply. [A/N: What? I HAD to include him somewhere!

Riku gaped at the man, dumbfounded. "When did you get here? Who sent you?"

"Moments ago and Hades. Not necessarily in that order." Auron grunted, a harsh laugh.

Riku was shocked at this answer. Hades, Lord of the Dead? The same Hades that had tried to kill them back in that coliseum place? "Why would he want to help us?" Riku asked.

Auron looked away. "He said Ansem was…on his turf." With that, Auron ran forth, sword at the ready, preparing to strike Ansem.

Ansem, however, had other plans. Lifting a hand, the floor was enveloped in darkness. Sora stopped rolling out of the way of the energy beams, as they ceased to exist. Ansem slowly sunk into the darkness, grinning widely as he did. "I'll see you all in hell." He said calmly, as they were jerked into the darkness, knee deep in it.

Riku heard footsteps run in, and a feminine scream, mixed in with sobs. Turning around, he saw Cid sinking with the rest of them, with Donald and Goofy trying to comfort Aerith, who was in tears.

"What's wrong?" Riku asked, his stomach knotting tighter and tighter with each passing second.

Cid looked away, dismayed. "It's Leon. He…didn't make it."

Yuffie choked back a snivel. Merlin looked down at his feet, depression apparent in his eyes. The bandaged man did not show emotion, though there was something different about his look. Auron, meanwhile, remained neutral. "Focus on his cause-of-death," he stated manifestly. Riku looked at him, getting his reference to Ansem. Hatred for the man welled up inside of him.

"Leon's death will be avenged," Riku said bitterly, his voice shaking slightly. As he sunk in, he could swear he saw a blur of yellow, but he couldn't be sure.

-

Sora felt his feet hit something solid yet spongy. Falling to his knees in response to the sudden contact, he eyes adjusted to the sudden darkness. When he saw just what his surroundings were, his jaw dropped in shock.

Sora was alone. He was standing on an island which seemed to be made of what looked and felt like muscle. Standing in front of him was a fifty-foot tall version of their formidable foe, Ansem, and his guardian. His arm muscles were bigger than Sora himself.

"Take a good look around you, kid." Ansem said, his voice booming, resonating across the unending darkness that surrounded their scene. "Go ahead and try. You won't be able to find one beacon of light around you. This goes to prove that the light shall never conquer the darkness."

"True," Sora conceded. "The light will never conquer the darkness. But the darkness will never conquer the light. They were meant to live in harmony. And nobody will change that. Maleficient couldn't, Hades couldn't, and you shall not."

Ansem's expression darkened significantly. "Silence!" he bellowed. Sora felt the atmosphere around him get hotter, hotter, boiling. It got to the point where he thought he was going to die. Suddenly, a laser shot out at him, knocking him back, forcing him to fall off the platform. The last thing he heard before being swallowed in the darkness was Ansem's victorious cackle.

Sora fell, his mind racing. _This is the end. This is how it all ends. For me, for the worlds, for everything and everyone I know and love._ He let his body go limp, knowing there was nothing he could do for himself now. He was destined to plunge forever in this darkness until he died. However, he heard an all-too-familiar voice echo in his head.

_C'mon, Sora. I'm not dating you so you can just give up in a situation like this. We can conquer the darkness. Together._ He felt a hand clasp around his own, a warm, loving hand, showing signs of interaction, something Sora thought he'd never know again.

He felt his everlasting plummet end, as he now found himself going the opposite direction, almost falling up, in a sense. It was effortless in nature, he just let himself float back up to rejoin the fray.

Ansem's laughter drifted back into Sora's ears, though it quickly ceased once he laid eyes on the boys. Ansem found himself speechless as the two glowered defiantly at him. "How can this be? You were immersed in the darkness! You were supposed to plunge forever!"

"You don't understand, Ansem." Riku said, eyes still narrowed. "When we are engrossed in darkness, when our environment gives us no hope of survival, when all human beings know is darkness, our hearts serve as our light. And Sora and I, our hearts are connected, while your heart remains cold, alone, destined for great isolation. And I feel sorry for you."

Ansem growled furiously. "No matter how you slice it, you kids cannot win!" Lifting his hand, he effortlessly, single-handedly removed their power of levitation, as if it was a cloak, and simple to slip off. The were reacquainted with the feeling of falling in the shadows.

[A/N: LULZ totally pulling an FFVII:AC here

At least, until a calm, deep, slightly scratchy voice spoke, saying, "Don't give up. This is your story." A whirlwind appeared, a tornado, carrying them back up to Ansem once again. That soon died out, though. In it's stead, underneath them was a rapidly spinning shruiken, as they heard Yuffie's perpetually cheery voice yell, "Go get 'em! Whoo!" They bounced off the shruiken as it undoubtedly returned to Yuffie. Now they were once again level with the platform they had stood on before, as they heard Ansem roar, "Impossible!" They clutched hands, as Cid, who was now standing on the platform, caught them with his ten-foot long spear, catapulting them in the general direction of Ansem now, while saying, "y'all come back alive now, y'hear?" Cid's spear was replaced by a rapidly spinning shield with a mousy-looking logo on it, while Goofy called after them, "Make this quick! A-hyuck." As the shield disappeared from underneath their feet, they heard Donald squawk, as a bolt of lightning just grazed them, just charging them enough to send them flying towards Ansem's eyeball. They heard the bandaged man speak, "Test my new invention for me, if you would," and heard him deeply laugh, as a beam of light shot out from under their feet, which they rode as if it were a handrail, and they were on skateboards. When that disappeared, they heard Merlin scream, "finish him!" as a trampoline appeared in a cloud below them. They bounced off of it, and went soaring, landing, in a remarkably graceful fashion, on the top of Ansem's head.

He swung at them but, try as he might, he could not swipe them off of his head. He hollered loudly in frustration, but then in pain, as Sora and Riku drove their Keyblades into the top of his head. They sprinted in arbitrary directions, dragging their Keyblades along with them. They got to the opposite ends of his hair, and they each planted their right foot firmly on the hair, while the other kicked forward, causing them to flip over. _One shot at this…_ they both simultaneously thought. Pointing their Keyblades through the hole they had created, they held it steady as a beam of light shot out of them, spearing Ansem. The light multiplied, mushroomed, burgeoned, until all the darkness in the room they were in was banished.

It was then that Sora and Riku hit ground again.

-

[A/N: ZOMG LAST EPIC SCENE:'D

Ansem fell to his knees, panting, trying to stay alive. His insides burned, writhed with pain. Looking up, blood dripping from his mouth, he saw the group that was the cause of his downfall. Sora, Riku, Aerith, Yuffie, Cid, Donald, Goofy, Merlin, that man in the red coat…and Ansem. Ansem the Wise, that was. All of the aforementioned were glaring at him with the intensity of the sun.

"Give it up. You've lost, Ansem." Sora said, pointing his Keyblade, ready to fire a beam, to finish him off for good."

"Don't be…so sure." Ansem forced out, a small leer casting a shadow over his face. Lifting his hand, he summoned his guardian, who leapt forward, and struck, before any of them could react.

[A/N: Don't kill me please! TT I had to kill someone off before the end of the story! Someone else, that is. oo I mean, it's not like I'm going to continue this, so it doesn't really matter. Had everyone who was still surviving survived, it would have felt too unreal. Still. Please forgive me.

[I never really liked him anyways. D:

At first, none of them knew what had happened. The heard rustling behind all of them. Turning on their heel, they saw it. Merlin dropped to his knees, three slash marks across his chest. Blood poured out of him. The man in bandages shouted in despair, a shout which lasted the last few seconds of Merlin's lifetime. Merlin's spirit left his body then. "Forgive me…Ansem." He uttered out, but then fell silent, to talk nevermore.

Everyone stared in shock, either at the bandaged man, their foe, or the newly-deceased Merlin. Meanwhile, Ansem laughed evilly, and turned to a gigantic, heavenly-looking door. Hand outstretched, he shouted to it. "Kingdom Hearts! Fill me with the power of darkness." It started to open, strands of darkness emerging. "Supreme darkness…" he said, joy filling up in him.

The bandaged man looked up and, to everyone's surprise, he was smiling softly. "You've lost…Xehanort."

The opponent's nostrils flared at usage of his old name. "What do you mean, you old man? I've won! The teacher has beat the student! The student has killed the one the teacher loves!"

At this, the bandaged man, the real Ansem, frowned. "This is true. However, when one kills, it darkens the heart. But if that kill ended a truly loving relationship, that means your heart is completely submersed in darkness."

Xehanort frowned. "So?"

Riku continued, picking up on Ansem's point. "So, your heart is completely submersed in darkness. And the ultimate damnation for a dark heart…"

"…is to be hit," Sora finished for him, "with light!" They drew their Keyblades.

Almost as if in response to this, the door burst open, and great beams of light came firing through them. Xehanort put his hand up to his eyes, in an effort to deflect the glow, though it was as if this light was undeflectable. "Light…?" he weakly asked, as he was swallowed up in it. When it had disappeared, Xehanort had followed in it's footsteps, gone from their scene. It was safe to assume that they had killed him.

Fits of celebration broke out among the remaining non-deceased group. At least, most. Unbeknownst to them all, Ansem the Wise had walked along the path, leaving the group, potentially forever. Meanwhile, also going unnoticed, Auron followed, his body slowly fading, small balls of light emitting from it, until he was gone.

That left Sora, Riku, Donald, Goofy, Cid, Aerith, and Yuffie to celebrate the end of their long and perilous journey. They chatted idly, until they realized that the giant door was still closed. Sora and Riku looked at the others, and they silently agreed that those two and Donald and Goofy would be better off to go and close the door, Donald and Goofy just going as backup. Those four sprinted off, leaving the other three to talk.

They approached the door, and all four saw a familiar face or shadow. Donald and Goofy saw the bounding silhouette of their King. He had big round ears, an olive-shaped nose, and some form of shorts on was all one could tell from the view they got of him. Meanwhile, Sora and Riku saw someone they really did not want to see, though this one wasn't trying to kill them. This one seemed like her old, benevolent self. Yes, the red-haired Kairi had reappeared in their lives.

"Kairi!" Sora and Riku shouted, while Donald and Goofy shouted, "Your Majesty!"

"Kairi…what are you doing here?" Sora asked.

Kairi giggled. "Isn't that a stupid question, Sora? Man, you've always been so naïve."

Sora protested with a vigorous "hey!" while Riku and Kairi shared a good laugh. Once the laughter had stopped, Riku asked the question he and Sora had been itching to hear. "So…you're not mad about Sora and me being…y'know…"

"In love?" Kairi asked, to which Sora and Riku nodded. "Well, I _was_ upset, but I honestly let that go a while ago. Ansem just made it seem like I hated you. He took over my body, forcing me to do his will, feeding on the anger and hurt that lay inside of me being rejected. But hey, I have a new boyfriend now."

"Seriously? You found someone in the realm of darkness?" Riku asked, eyes widening in surprise.

It was then that a familiar blonde boy emerged from behind the doors. He wrapped his arms around Kairi. She smiled and giggled a bit. Turning to Riku and Sora, who both had their mouths agape, she said, "Sora and Riku, meet my boyfriend…"

"TIDUS?!" they both asked in unison, shocked.

Tidus smiled, bearing gleaming white teeth. "Well…I was the one who saved her moments before she died on that night in Destiny Islands. That's really what started us off."

Sora and Riku just gaped. They certainly hadn't been expecting that. His voice finding him, Sora finally spoke up, "Well, uh…good for you, Kai!" She smiled in thanks.

-

Meanwhile, Aerith, Yuffie, and Cid were chatting away about how they couldn't wait to get back to Hollow Bastion, which had been their former home. They were planning on sprucing things up, having Cid and Yuffie build most of the stuff, while Aerith worked on providing things for them, such as wood, snacks, whatever they decided they needed.

They heard footsteps behind them. In unison, they whirled around, readying their weapons, expecting a fight. What the reality was certainly wasn't something they were expecting.

[A/N: I felt bad for killing Merlin

Cloud walked towards them calmly, a relieved smile on his face. Walking beside him, though he had to carry the man slightly to help him balance, was none other than he whom had been previously forsaken for dead- Squall Leonheart.

The three of them gaped, silence coating the room. Cloud opened his mouth happily, hugging the boy with the arm he held Leon upright with. "I found him getting a glass of milk."

A stunned silence reverberated among the five of them, until uproarious mirth broke out among them. God knows they were relieved to have Leon back.

-

It was then that The King finished his conversation about his adventures with Donald and Goofy. He reached down, and pulled up a sparkling golden Keyblade. "Now, Sora! Riku! Let's close this door for good!"

"Together, we can do it," Kairi encouraged. Sora and Riku firmly nodded, and they pushed on the door while Kairi and the King pulled back on it. The door slowly started to close. Just as it was about to shut, Kairi turned to the two boys, and said placidly, "take care of each other." With that warm-hearted advice, the door slammed shut.

Sora and Riku leapt back, pointing their Keyblades up to the sky. On the other side of the door, the King and Kairi mimicked their motions. Particles of light gathered around the tips of all four Keyblades, Finally, beams shot out of the tips. A solid clicking sound was heard, signifying that the door had been locked. The door disappeared in a flash of light, revealing just a path that seemed to continue forever. Satisfied, Sora and Riku turned back, heading back towards where the others were standing.

-

"Oh my God, Leon!" Sora shouted in joy, running up and tackle-hugging the man, who took it while grunting loudly in response to the impact. Laughing joyfully, he patted Sora on the back, and Sora removed himself from the older male. "How are you alive? We all thought you were dead!"

"Well, I almost died. But I held onto the thought of something which kept me in the material world."

"What's that?" Sora asked innocently.

Leon gripped Cloud's hand while looking at him and smiling, the smile that says, "I know something Sora doesn't." "Well…let's just say I hold it dear."

Sora's eyes darted from Cloud to Leon, until a knowing smile crossed his face. "Aww…that's sweet." He took just a moment to bask in the lovely moment, before spotting something that interested him, and taking off down the path.

Cid slowly turned to Riku. "Kid, I think yer boyfriend has ADD."

Riku laughed appreciatively, walking a bit towards the adults. "So, what's going to happen to us now that we've finished this?"

"Well…here's where you have a decision to make," Leon said, a frown crossing his face for the first time since he 'died.' "You can either fall with Sora into the darkness, which should lead you back to your islands, or you two can secure things, and make sure the darkness isn't able to penetrate the light ever again. I think you can go see a man by the name of Yen Sid for information on how to do that. Or perhaps Ansem- bandaged Ansem, good Ansem," he clarified quickly, "knows something."

Riku thought for a moment, and finally spoke up. "Well, I think we, as Keybearers, still have a job to do. We have to protect the light. Maybe someday we can return to the islands."

Cloud smiled. "A wise decision. Unfortunately, either way, the walls between worlds will be rebuilt, thereby making travel between worlds impossible."

Riku frowned forlornly. "So, that means this is goodbye?"

"Yeah, I'm afraid so." Yuffie said slowly, for once.

"Don't worry, "Aerith said, gently touching Yuffie's shoulder, "no matter where we are, our hearts will bring us together again. Right?"

Riku smiled. "Yeah." He looked over at Sora, wondering how he would break the news to Sora that they couldn't return home just yet. Looking back at the group, his eyes met Leon's, who was smiling. "Go to him. He needs you."

Riku nodded, and turned, running away from them, shouting a variety of valedictions behind him, which were responded to with more farewells.

-

Sora inched away from the edge of the cliff, looking down. It seemed to go on forever. Sora, of course, being afraid of heights, was none to keen on falling down there. Therefore, he backed away from it, ready to run back to Riku, Leon, Cloud, Cid, and the rest of them.

"Sora!" he heard a voice call. Turning around, he saw Riku casually jogging up to him. Sora smiled. "Riku," he called in response.

Riku slowed to a halt right in front of him, beaming at the boy. He took in breath, ready to tell Sora they were to protect the light from the darkness, and not return home, when he felt a brief rumbling beneath his feet. A cracking sound, and suddenly, Sora was unwillingly threatening to float away from Riku on a small chunk of the now cracked path. Sora grunted in shock, almost falling over, before Riku caught his hand, holding onto him for dear life. "Sora! Remember what you said before?" he asked. Not waiting for a response, as he didn't have that kind of time, he continued, "I'm always with you too. I'll come back to you. I promise!"

Sora, wincing from having his arm stretched so much, shouted back, "I know you will!"

With that, Riku let go of Sora's hand, and Sora drifted away from him. He watched Sora's island slowly fall, thinking. He had lost Sora before, but this time, he felt as though this wasn't fightable. It was almost…destiny that he depart from Riku, and return to his island. That's what he wanted anyways, right? Either way, Riku solemnly vowed to himself, right there, that the promise he had just made Sora was not to be an empty promise. He would return.

Turning back, he saw that Leon and the gang had left. He walked calmly up the path, walking away from where he had last seen Sora, ready to continue his journey, to write the next chapter in his story.

-

Phew.

Yes, that is all Chapter Ten has to offer, and all the main story has to offer.

**Over 51,500 words in total, and 124 pages on Microsoft Word, and we aren't even done yet. There is still an epilogue to write!**

Thank you to the few who read and reviewed the last chapter. Man, this story isn't getting as much publicity as I had hoped previously it would. :/ Oh well.

Since I cannot think of anything clever to write, let's just say there's no little bonus at the end of this chapter. Sorry to disappoint.

Want a happier ending? **Read the epilogue.**

**Please** review. And yes, the epilogue will be up shortly. In fact, I'm going to get working on that right now.


	11. Epilogue: The Final Altered Promise

**Author's Brief Note: **Well, I know everyone who's still reading is just _dying _to read the epilogue, so I will make this quick. Let's cut to the chase, shall we? Thanks to all who reviewed, even though I'm writing this note before Chapter Ten even goes on FanFiction. Anyways, this is rated M for earlier smut and language and violence. Good combination right thurr.

Anyways, it is a Yaoi story based on characters who Tetsuya Nomura, not me, owns.

Now then, onwards!

Kingdom Hearts: Altered Promises

Epilogue: The Final Promise

**TWO YEARS LATER…**

The Destiny Islands' mainland practically glowed that evening. The setting sun illuminated the almost night sky, and thus, also illuminated the town. The town itself was peaceful. There were similar-looking houses all along it, with larger houses for restaurants and cafés placed sporadically throughout it. Like Destiny Islands, the mainland was very green, with palm trees spread out across it. White fences were entangled with green grape vines. Bushes, grass, it was very aesthetic.

As brilliant as the day was, so much more stunning was the sunset. It was like a masterpiece painting, in which the artist's raw emotions just spilled onto the blank canvas. Red, yellow, orange, blue, pink, purple, white, black, and other colors the citizens of these Islands could not even come up with a name for streaked through the sky, creating a spiral shape that glowed with brilliance.

This is what a seventeen-year old Sora walked through calmly, on that fateful sunset. He had a slightly better fashion sense nowadays, and only dressed in a sensible pair of black jeans and a small white red and black t-shirt, with a symbol emblazoned on it, looking almost like a strange cross shape. His friends had rejoiced the day he had gotten rid of the goofy-looking red, white, and blue outfit he usually had worn.

"Sora, wait up!" the girl called after him. Turning around, his sky blue eyes met Selphie's catlike green. Selphie had been one of Sora's friends from back when he lived in harmony on the island. They used to duel all the time, and it was quite a fun time. She was a light brunette when it came to hair color. Her hair was straight, but curled at the end. Her friends always teased her about how her hair looked roughly like the mother on a local television show, _Jimmy Neutron_. This embarrassed her to no end. She wore a white button-up shirt with a blue tie, and a blue-and-white plaid skirt. She also wore a black leather wristband, long blue socks, and black shoes.

This girl came running up to Sora, shopping bag in hand. They had just come back from going to the town square to go shopping for new clothing. She smiled as she approached Sora. Sora just looked forward, following the path with his eyes, smiling contentedly.

"You want to come to the island with me? Tidus and Wakka are all wrapped up in their ballgame, and won't come!"

"Not today, sorry." Sora said, his eyes still fixated on some trees ahead.

"Aww, why not?" Selphie pouted.

"Do you remember the silver-haired boy who used to play with Kairi and I on the island?" Sora asked.

"Riku? Yeah, I do. Where did that come from, though?" she asked Sora.

"Well…I promised myself I wouldn't go back to the Islands without him. It would just be so…lonely."

"But I'd be there with you!" Selphie protested, almost angry that she didn't count as company.

Sora smiled softly at her. "I'm talking about a different kind of lonely. Not necessarily being alone, but…not being with _him_ on those islands. We used to play there together all the time, we dueled…it was a lot of fun."

"I sure do miss him," Selphie said sadly. "Kairi, too."

"Yeah…" Sora began, but suddenly, he felt a stabbing pain in his head. Clutching it, he let a memory flow back into his brain, ignoring everything else, even himself falling backwards onto the ground, even Selphie calling out, "Sora! Are you all right?"

-

_Sora and Riku sat on the island, late at night, eating popsicles. Which was fairly strange, considering how it was less than sixty degrees out._

_Sora and Riku had just finished a duel, and were sitting down to eat. Riku was twelve, Sora was eleven. Looking back on it, Sora thought the miniature version of his current self was rather cute in the little brother type way. Riku was still sexy, even when he was twelve. Sora inwardly smiled._

_"Y'know, Riku, I hope we're together forever." Sora stated, oblivious to the double meaning of this phrase, how this could be said between friends or lovers._

_Riku, obviously, was oblivious too, as he smiled and responded, "we will."_

_"You think so?" Sora asked curiously, leaning over to him._

_"Yeah. I mean, really. I can't see myself being away from you for more than two years."_

_Sora raised an eyebrow. "Really?"_

_Riku smiled warmly. "Yeah. I'd find a way back to you after two years, I imagine."_

-

As Sora slowly came to his senses, a much more mature-sounding voice spoke softly in his head.

_You hear that, Sora? I stand by what I said- I'll be home soon. And there better be a damn feast when I get there._

Sora giggled softly. _It's good to hear your voice, baby, _he thought, as he stood on his feet, smiling, giving Selphie a soft nod as a silent sign that he was okay. Selphie's worried look dissipated into her normal cheery expression, as Sora's internal conversation continued.

_Good to hear yours, too. Well, I guess that's all I wanted. I love you, Sora. Oh, and just remember…_

Sora turned to Selphie, looking at her in the eyes. "You know Selphie…" he began, "maybe we should go to the beach." She nodded happily. With that, Sora and Selphie scampered off to their boats, ready to row out to their old hangout, the place Sora hadn't been in what seemed like ages.

Thanks to Riku's work, it had been two years since the dark forces had even contemplated threatening the Destiny Islands. All was well.

_Wherever you go, I'm always with you._

_Fin._

-

What did you guys think? Yes, I totally pulled a _Harry Potter 7_ at the end there. XD

Well, it has been both a bitch and a pleasure writing this story. Please Read and Review, these would just make me thrilled, and encourage a sequel, which it's looking like there will not be. Sorry to disappoint. D:

Undying Lover


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